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VISVA-BHARATI 

QUARTERLY 


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EDITOR 

SURENDRANATH TAGORE 


VAI3AKH, 1331 B.S. 

APRIL 1924 A, D. 

* 



visva-bharati press 





The copyright of the Bengali works {over 150 in number) of 
Rabindranath Tagore has been transferred to the Vi$va*Rkarati by the 
author* The Bengali works are being now printed and published by the 
Visva-Bharati Press* 

The authorities of the Visva-Bharali are contemplating publication of 
a series of anthologies and monographs on the Literarture, Art, Music, 
History and Philosophy of India. 

SOME RECENT WORKS OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE. 

Vasanta. A new Song-play with music by Rabindranath Tagore, 
Specially composed for the Spring Festival (held in Calcutta during the 
last week of February) in which the Poet appeared in a leading role. Re, i/~ 

Prayasdiitta — A Drama by Rabindranath Tagore. As, -/8/% \ Summer, 

Lipika — A Book of Short Studies in Piose. Re. 1-12. [Summer, 192 2 \ 
Shistau BholSndth— A Book of Child Poems. Re. j /-. [Summer, 1932 j 
Mukta-dhari — A Drama of Human Freedom. Re. x/-. [ Autumn , 1922 J 
Gita-Panchasika — A Book of Fifty Songs with Music. Rs. 2. [New 

Impression] 

Catalogues issued periodically, and sent gratis an application, 

ENGLISH WORKS OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE. 

Published by MacMillan & Co. 

Creative Unity — A collection of Lectures and Ess&ys (1922) . Extra Crown 
8vo. — 7/6 net. Readers of Visva-bharati Quarterly will note the 
lecture on "An Eastern University” in which the author has given his 
idea of the Visva-bharati (The Santiniketan University) . 

Personality — Lectures delivered in America. Illustrated Crown 8vo. 6/ - net. 
Shantiniketau — The Bolpur School of Rabindranath Tagore by W- W. 
Pearson with Introduction by Rabindranath Tagore. It will give the 
general reader some idea about the actual working of the Santiniketan 
School. Illustrated 8vo. 4/6 net. 

The Bengali and English Works of Rabindranath Tagore are sold at 

THE VISVA-BHARATI BOOK-SHOP 
Book-sellers, Publishers & Printers. 

10, Cornwallis Street, Calcutta. 



THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY 


VoL IS. 


CONTENTS 


1331 B.S. 

(APRIL 1924- JANUARY 1925) 


10, Cornwallis Street, Calcutta, India 





THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY 

CONTENTS 

( From April, 1924 lo January, 1925.) 


Arranged Alphabetically. 

Page. 

Al-j&hiz as a Religious Thinker — Muhammad Bazlar Rehman ... 162 
(The) Body of Humanity — C. F. Andrews ... ... ... 317 

China’s Debt to India — Prof. Liang Chi Chao ... ... 251 

City and Village — Rabindranath Tagore ... ... ... 215 

Civilization and Ethics — S. E. Stokes of Kotgarh ... ... 380 

Culture and Technical Progress — Count Hermann Keyseriing ... 360 

Development of Religious Thought amongst the Indo-Aryans — Prof. 

Sten Know ... ... ... ... ... 335 

Divine Dark (Poem) — Haiindranath Chattopadhyaya ... ... 155 

(The) East in the West — C. F. Andrews ... ... ... 115 

(The) East is rny Love — Gwendoline Goodwin ... ... 127 

(The) Edicts of Asoka — Prof. J. N. Samaddar ... ... 239 

Education and Reconstruction— Patrick Geddes ... ... 77 

How the Indian Pagoda went East — Kshitish Prasad Chattopadhyay 271 
Impressions of Kathiawar — L. K. Elmhirst ... ... ... 65 

111 Gold and Grey (Poem) — Harindranath Chattopadhyay ... 22 

In Memorium Ashutosh Mukherji — Rabindranath ... ... 196 

International Relations — Rabindranath Tagore .. ... 307 

(A) Japanese View of Modern Art — Okakura Kakuzo ... ... 327 

(The) Juridical Xife in France — Henri Solus ... ... 38 

(The) Magnificence of Death (Poem) — Rabindranath ... ... 262 

Notes : — 

Some Pages from the President’s Travel Diary ... ... 385 

/ The Sriniketan Anniversary ... ... ... 85 

/Notes and Comments — Rabindranath Tagore ... ... 173 

Do. Do. ... ... 279 

(The) Origin of Caste— Kshitishprasad Chattopadhyay ... ... 347 

Our Elder Brothers, the Kol People — Suniti Kumar Chatterjee ... 23 

(A) Poem by Rabindranath — translated by Khitish Ch. Sen ... 5 1 



11 


Page 

(The) Relation between Art and Religion in India — Radhakamal 

Mukherji ... ... ... ... ... 149 

(The) Royal University of Vikramasila— J. N. Samaddar ... 53 

Sikh Ideals-Prof. K. M. Panikkar ... ... ... 128 

SikshS-Satra— L. K. Elmhirst ... ... ... ... 135 

Some Factors in the Making of Bengal — Panchcowrie Banerjee ... 263 
Spiritual values in Social Service — Bepin Chandra Pal ... ... 47 

(The) Song Bird — Rabindranath Tagore ... ... ... 359 

Thoughts on the Present Sitration— Editor ... ... ... 183 

(The) Universal Quest— Prof. S. Hanmauthrao ... ... 367 

(The) Voice (poem)— Tsemou-Hsu ... ... ... 228 

W. W. Pearson (A. Memoir)— C. F. Andrews ... ... 229 

What then? — Rabindranath Tagore ... ... ... 1 

When All My Doors are Open— Rabindranath Tagore ... ... 326 

Whiff’s of Far-Eastern Fragrance— from Okakura ... ... 15 

World-Mother— Mohini M. Chatterjee ... ... ... 84 

Yeats the Nobel Prizeman and his Poetry— Dr. J. Cousins ... 156 

Visva-bharati Bulletin : 

Address by Jewish Community in China— (Reported) ... 302 

Address by Dr. Sten Kpnow ... ... ... ... 395 

Answers to Chinese Students (Reported) ... . . ... 295 

Early Chinese Literature— Prof. Nago Chang Lim ... ... 396 

(The) Eastern Idea of the Infinite — Ajit Kumar Chakravarti ... 200 
J,The) Guest-house of India— Rabindranath Tagore ... .. 95 

Indo-Cham Art in Champa — Phanindranath Bose ... ... 206 

(The) Meaning of Visva-bharati — C. F. Andrews ... ... 98 

(The) Message of an Indian — D. J. Irani ... ... . . . 305 

Oriental Studies in Italy — Prof. G. Tucci ... ... ... 298 

(The) Parasurama Tradition — P. Anujan Achan ... ... 103 

Rabindranath to Chinese Students ... ... ... 198 

Rabindranath and Governor Yen of Shansi — (Reported) ... 289 



THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY 


Vol. II. APRIL, 1924 No. 1. 


WHAT THEN? 

B* Rabindranath Tagore. 

The flesh is impure, the world is vanity, therefore renuncia- 
tion in the shape of self-mortification is necersary for salvation, 
— this was the ideal of spiritual life held forth in medieval 
Europe. Modern Europe, however, considers it unwholesome to 
acknowledge an everlasting feud between the human world of 
natural desires and social aims on the one hand, and the spiritual 
life with its discipline and aspiration on the other. According to 
her, we enfeeble the moral purpose of our existence if we put 
too much emphasis on the illusoriness of this world. To drop 
down dead in the race course of life, while running at full speed, 
is acclaimed by her to be the most glorious death. 

Tt may be that Europe has gained a certain strength by 
pinning its faith on the world, by refusing to dwell on its 
evanescence, on the certainty of death, — condemning the opposite 
frame of mind as morbid. Her children are, perhaps, thereby 
trained to be more efficient in competition, to gain the victory in 
the struggle which, in their view, represents the whole of life. 
But, whatever may be the practical effect of leading this life as 
if its connection with the world were interminable, — that is not 
a fact. 

Doubtless Nature, for its own biological purposes, has 
created in us a strong faith in life, by keeping us unmindful of 
death. Nevertheless, not only our physical existence, but also 
the environment which it builds up around itself, desert us in 
the moment of triumph. The greatest prosperity comes to its 


2 


THE VIS V A-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


end, dissolving into emptiness ; the mightiest empire is overtaken 
by stupor amidst the flicker of its festival lights. All this is 
none the less true because its truism bores us to be reminded of it. 

And yet, it is equally true that, though all our mortal re- 
lationships have their end, we cannot ignore them with impunity 
while they last. If we behave as if they do not exist, merely 
because thejr will not persist, they will all the same exact their 
dues, with a great deal over by way of penalty. We cannot 
claim exemption from payment of fare because the railwajr train 
has not the permanence of the dwelling house. Trying to ignore 
bonds that are real, albeit temporary, only strengthens; and 
prolongs their bondage. 

That is whj|the spirit of attachment and that of detachment 
have to be reconcuSfl in harmony, and then only will they lead us 
to reality. Attachment is the force which draws us to the truth 
in its finite aspect, its aspect of manifestation ; while detachment 
leads us to freedom in the infinity of truth which is its ideal 
aspect. According to the symbolism of Indian thought, Shiva, 
the male principle of truth, represents the spirit of freedom, 
while Shivam, its; female principle, represents the spirit of 
manifestation. In their union dwells the ideal of perfections 

In order to achieve the reconeilation of these opposites, 
we must first come to a true understanding of man ; that is to say, 
we must not cut him down to the requirements of any particular 
purpose. To look on trees only as firewood, is not to know the 
tree in its completeness. Similarly, to look on man merely as 
the protector of his country, or the producer of its wealth, is 
to reduce him to soldier or merchant, to make his efficiency as 
such to be the measure of his manhood. Not only is such view 
limited, it is destructive. And those whom we would thus 
glorify are but assisted to a rocket-like descent. 

How India once looked on man as greater than any purpose 
he could serve, is shown by this well-known couplet of 
ChanakyaT 

Tyajedekam kulasyarthe, gramasydrthe kulam tyajet; 

Grdmant janapadasyarthe, dtrairthe prithivfm tyajet. 



April, 1924 ] 


WHAT THEN? 


3 


For the family sacrifice the individual, for the community the family, 
for the country the community , for the soul all the world. 

In other words, we must first realise man’s soul as separate 
from and greater than all worldly considerations, and then we 
shall be in a position to recognise his true relations to country, 
community and family, his true place in the different affairs of 
the world. 

That was what had been achieved in India. Our sages had 
realised the soul of man as something very great indeed. They 
saw no end to his dignity, which found its consummation in 
Brahma Himself. Any limited view of man would therefore be 
a false view. He could not be merely Citizen or Patriot, for 
neither City nor Country, nor for the matter of that the bubble 
called the World, could contain his eternal soul. 

Bhartrihari, who was once a king, has said : 

Pr&ptdh sakalakamadughastam kirn, 

Nyastam padam shirasi vidvishatam tatah kim ; 

Sampaditam pranayino vibhavaistatah kim, 
Kalpasthit&stanubhrit&m tanavastatah kim? 

What if you have secured the fountain-head of all desires, — Lakshmi 
herself ; what if you have put your foot on the neck of your enemy, or 
by your good fortune gathered friends around you ; what, even, if you 
have succeeded in keeping mortal bodies alive for ages, — what then? 

That is to say, man is greater than all these objects of his 
desire. You can only intelligently direct man’s life towards its 
perfection if you remember that greatest truth of him which 
courses from infinite to infinite, without beginning and without 
end. 

It was in this amplitude of their vision of man that our 
ancient sages differed from the European monks of the middle 
ages, whereby they arrived at a correspondingly different 
standard of the value of man’s life. The sages of India did not 
consider strenuousness of effort, up to the very end, to be a matter 
for glorification. Work was not the be all and end all with them, 
their aim was, rather, to come to the end of all work. They 
had no doubt that the liberation of man’s soul was the one object 
of man’s quest. 



4 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


Europe is incessantly singing paeans to Freedom, which to 
her means freedom to acquire, freedom to enjoy, freedom to work. 
This freedom is by no means a small thing, and much toil and 
care are required to maintain it in this world. Yet our sages of 
old did not find their satisfaction in it, still questioning : What 
then? This freedom was no freedom to them. India wanted 
freedom even from desire and from work. 

In the process of attaining freedom one must bind his will 
in order to save its forces from distraction and wastage, so as to 
gain for it the velocity which conies from the bondage itself. 
Those who seek liberty in a purely political plane must constantly 
curtail it and reduce their freedom of thought and action to that 
narrow limit which is necessary for making political liberty 
secure, very often at the cost of liberty of conscience. 

Are the soldiers of England freemen, or are they 
not merely living guns? And what of the toilers in her mines 
and factoi'ies, — mere appendages of the machines they work, — 
who assist with their life’s blood to paint red the map of 
England’s Empire? How few are the Englishmen who really 
participate in this political freedom of theirs ? Europe may have 
preached and striven for individualism, but where else in the 
world is the individual so much of a slave? 

The only reply to this is the paradox to which I have already 
referred. Freedom can only be attained through bonds; it is a 
profit which can only be gained if you lay out a commensurate 
capital of bondage. 

Individualism was also the object of India’s quest, — not of 
this restricted kind, however, for it stretched up towards perfect 
emancipation, — so it tried to gain this larger individual freedom 
through every detail of life, every relation of family and society. 
And as in Europe her ideal of freedom has manifested itself in 
the full rigour of mechanical and military bonds, so the ideal of 
India found its expression in the hard and fast regulation of the 
most intimate details of the daily life. If we fail to see the 
ideal behind, and focus our view on its external manifestations 
alone, then indeed in India individual liberty appears most 
thoroughly fettered. 



April, 1924] 


WHAT THEN? 


5 


The fact of the matter is, that when in any country 
degeneration sets in, the important thing is lost sight oi and its 
place occupied by the rubbishy details which have accumulated 
round it. The bird flies away and the empty cage is left. That 
is what has happened in our country. We still submit to the 
bondage of all kinds of social restrictions, but the freedom, the 
salvation which was the object, is no longer in our view, or in our 
thoughts, or in our efforts. We have forgotten the ideal, we 
have lost all sense of the grandeur of our striving, — what remains 
is the impotence of blind habit. So that if now the looker-on 
should come tc the conclusion that the social system of India is 
only a device for keeping down its people by meaningless in- 
junctions and prohibitions, we may get angry, but will find it 
difficult to give an effective contradiction. 

It is not my object to lament our downfall. What I wish 
to point out is, that India had originally accepted the bonds of 
her social system in order to transcend society, as the rider puts 
reins on his horse and stirrups on his own feet in order to ensure 
greater speed towards his goal. India knew that society was not 
the ultimate end, the final refuge of man, but only the means of 
of leading him to his liberation. And if her bonds were even 
more severe than those which Europe has imposed on herself, 
that was because an even greater Freedom was in contemplation. 
Her present plight only shows that the deeper the lake, the more 
cavernous is its hollow when it has dried up. 

The reconciliation of these opposite aspects of bondage and 
freedom, of the means and the end, is thus referred to in the 
Ishopanishad : 

Andham tamah pravishanti ye avidyamupasate. 

Tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u vidyayam ratah, 

Vidyanchavi dyancha yastadvedabhayam saha, 

Avidyayd mrityum tirtva vidyayamamritamasnute. 

In darkness are they who worship only the world, but in greater 
darkness they who worship the Infinite alone. He, who accepts both, 
saves himself from death by the knowledge of the former, and by that 
of the latter attains immortality. 



6 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


That is to say, we must first have our fulness of world -life before 
we can attain the Infinite. Desire must be yoked to work for the 
purpose of transcending both desire and work, and then only can 
union with Brahma be thought of. The mere renunciation of the 
world does not entitle to immortality. 

Kurvanneveha karniani jijivishet shatam samah, 

Evam tvayi manyatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare. 

In work must thou desire to live a hundred years. 0 man ! no other 
way is open to thee except through work. 

A full life with full work can alone fulfil the destiny of 
man. When his wordly life is thus perfected, it comes to its 
natural end, and the fetters of work are loosened and drop off. 
As a help to view life and life’s ending in this simple, natural 
way, the Ishopanishad asks us to remember that 

Ishavasyamidam sarvam yat kincha jagaty&m jagat, 

Tena tyaktena bhunjithd ma gridhah kasyasviddhanam. 

All that is in this world is enveloped by God. Enjoy that which He 
gives you. Covet not the wealth of others. 

The poison of the worldly life is neutralised as soon as we 
realise that it is enveloped by God. Its pettiness is relieved. 
Its bonds do not get a grip on us. And no room for snatching 
or grabbing is left, once we know all enjoyment as the gift of 
God. This elevation of work and enjoyment by linking them 
with Brahma, is the origin of the Indian social system. It is 
thus that India tried to liberate the human soul. 

In Europe we see only two divisions of man’s worldly life, 
— -the period of training, and that of work. In work it ends. 
But work is a process and cannot really be the end of anything ; 
it must have some gain, some achievement, as its object. And 
yet Europe has omitted to put before man any definite goal in 
which his work may find its natural termination and gain its rest. 
To acquisition, whether of material or of knowledge, there is no 
limit. And the European idea of civilisation puts all its 
emphasis on the progress of this cumulative acquisition, for- 
getting that the best contribution which each individual can 
make to the progressive life of humanity is in the perfection of 



April, 1924] 


WHA1' THEN? 


7 


his own life. So their end comes in the middle of things ; there 
is no game, but only the chase. 

We, also, say that the desire is not exhausted, but rather 
increases, with the getting. How then is one to come to the 
end of work? The reply that India of old gave was, that there 
is an exception to this general rule, that there is a plane wherein 
getting does arrive at its terminus, whereto if we strive to attain, 
our work shall come to an end, and rest be ours. The Universe 
cannot (be so madly conceived that desire should be an in- 
terminable song with no finale. And just as it is painful to stop 
in the middle of the tune, it should be as pleasant to reach its 
final cadence. 

India has not advised us to come to a sudden stop while 
work is in full swing. It is true that the unending procession 
of the world has gone on, through its ups and downs, from the 
beginning of creation till to-day; but it is equally obvious that 
each individual’s connection therewith does get finished. Must 
he necessarily quit it without any sense of fulfilment? Had that 
been so, he would have been unforunate indeed ! 

So, in the divisions of man’s world life which we had in 
India, work came in the middle, and freedom at the end. As 
the day is divided into morning, noon, afternoon and evening 
so India had divided man’s life into four parts, following the 
requirements of his nature. The day has the waxing and waning 
of its light, so has man of his bodily powers ; and, acknowledging 
this, India gave a connected meaning to his life from start to 
finish. 

First came brahmacharyd , the period of education ; then 
gdrhaslhya, that of the world’s work ; then vanaprasthya, the re- 
treat for the loosening of bonds ; and finally pravrajyd, the 
expectant awaiting of freedom through death. 

Nowadays we have came to look upon life as a conflict with 
death, — the intruding enemy, not the natural ending, — in 
impotent quarrel with which we spend every stage of it. When 
the time comes for youth to depart, we would hold it back by 
main force. When the fervour of desire slackens, we would 
revive it with fresh fuel of our own devising. When our sense 



8 


THE V 1 SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh , 1331 


organs weaken, we urge them to keep up their efforts. Even 
when our grip has relaxed we are reluctant to give up possession. 

We fain would ignore all the rest of our life except only its 
morning and noon. And when at last sheer vis major compels 
us to acknowledge its afternoon and evening, we are either in a 
rebellious, or in a despairing frame of mind, and so unable to 
make due use of them. We are not trained to recognise the 
inevitable as natural, and so cannot give up gracefully that 
which has to go, but needs must wait till it is snatched from us. 
The truth comes as conqueror only because we have lost the art 
of receiving it as guest. 

The stem of the ripening fruit becomes loose, its pulp soft, 
but its seed hardens with provision for the next life. Our out- 
ward losses, due to age, have likewise corresponding inward 
gains. But, in man’s inner life, his will plays a dominant part, 
so that these gains depend on his own disciplined striving ; that 
is why, in the case of undisciplined man, who has omitted to 
secure such provision for the next stage, it is so often seen that 
his hair is gray, his mouth toothless, his muscles slack, and yet 
his stem-hold on life has refused to let go its grip, so much so 
that he is anxious to exercise his will in regard to worldly details 
even after death. This kind of forcefulness is coming to be 
regarded, even in our country, as something to be proud of ; but 
what is there so glorious in it? 

Renounce we must, and through renunciation gain, — that is 
the truth of the inner world. 

The flower must shed its petals for the sake of fruition, the 
fruit must drop off for the re-birth of the tree. The child 
leaves the refuge of the womb in order to achieve the further 
growth of body and mind in which consists the whole of the 
child life ; next, the soul has to come out of this self-contained 
stage into the fuller life, which has varied relations with kins- 
man and neighbour, together with whom it forms a larger body ; 
lastly comes the decline of the body, the weakening of desire, 
and, enriched with its experiences, the soul now leaves the 
narrower life for the universal life, to which it dedicates its 
accumulated wisdom on the one hand and, on the other, itself 



April, 1924] 


WHAT THEN? 


9 


enters into relations with the Life Eternal ; so that, when finally 
the decaying body has come to the very end of its tether, the soul 
views its breaking away quite simply and without regret, in the 
expectation of its own re-birth into the Infinite. 

From in dividual body to community, from community to 
universe, from .pormal 

progress. 

^. u ~. * J A"***'-" ... , 

Our sages, therefore, keeping in mind the goal of this 
progress, did not, in life’s first stage of education, prescribe 
merely the learning of books or. things, but brahmacharyd, the 
living in discipline, whereby both enjoyment and its renunciation 
would come equally easy to the strengthened character. Life 
being a pilgrimage, with liberation in Brahma as its object, the 
living of it was as a spiritual exercise to be carried through its 
different stages, humbly, reverently and vigilantly. And the 
pupil, from his very initiation, had this final consummation kept 
in his view. 

TLe series of adjustments between within and without, which 
constitute the physical life, have become automatic; but in the 
case of man, his mind comes in as a disturbing factor which is 
still in the stage of conscious experimentation and which there- 
fore may involve him in endless trouble before its activities can 
be attuned to universal law. For instance, the body may have 
come to the end of its requirement of food for the time, whereas 
the mind will not have it so, but, seeking to prolong the enjoy- 
ment of its satisfaction, even beyond actual need, spurs on the 
tongue and the stomach to greater efforts, thus upsetting age- 
long adjustments and creating widely ramified sorrow in the 
process of the superfluous effort required for procuring needless 
material. 

I tyn ce the mind refuses to be bound by actual requirements, 
there ceases to be any reason why it should cry halt at any 
particular limit, and so, like trying to extinguish fire with oil, 
its acquisitions only make its desires blaze up all the fiercer. 
That is why it is so essential to habituate the mind, from the very 
beginning, to be conscious of, and desirous of keeping within, the 
natural limits ; in other words, to attune itself to the universal 



10 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh , 1331 


nature, so that, with every liberty to play its own varied tunes, 
it may learn to avoid discord with the Good and True\ 

After the period of such education comes the period of 
world-life. Manu tells us that 

Natathaitani shakyante sanniyantumasevaya, 

Vishayeshu prajushtani yatha jfianena nityashah. 

It is not possible to discipline ourselves so effectively if out of touch 
with the world, as while pursuing the world life with wisdom. 

That is to say, wisdom does not attain completeness except 
through the living of life; and discipline divorced from wisdom 
is not true discipline, but merely the meaningless following of 
custom, which is only a veil for ignorance. 

Work, especially good work, becomes easy, only when desire 
has learnt to discipline itself. Then alone does the householders’ 
state become a centre of welfare for all the world, and instead of 
being an obstacle, helps on the final liberation. Then can the 
householder dedicate all his activities to Brahma and rejoice in so 
doing. When all his work is good work, its bondage cannot 
prove galling and will easily be loosened in due time and fall 
away from the worker. 

The second stage of life having been thus spent, the decline 
of the bodily powers must be taken as a warning that it is coming 
to its natural end. This must not be taken dismally as a notice 
of dismissal to one still eager to stick to his post, but joyfully as 
the news of promotion to higher duties. 

The field for the exercise of bodily strength, of alert senses 
and keen desires, must now be left behind. The crops that were 
raised thereon have been harvested and garnered and done with. 
Now it is evening, the time to leave the enclosure of labour for the 
open road ; to set out for home, where peace awaits us. Have 
we not been toiling and moiling through the live-long day for this 
very home, — the Home which is greatness itself, the abode of 
joy ? From that joy did we come, to that joy shall we now return. 
If that be not so, what then have we been sweating for, what 
then ? 

After the infant leaves the womb, it still has to remain close 
to its mother for a time, remaining attached in spite of its 



April, 1924] 


WHAT THEN? 


II 


detachment, until it can adapt itself to its new freedom. Such 
is the case in the third stage of life, when man though aloof from 
the world still remains in touch with it, while preparing himself 
for the final stage of complete freedom. He still gives to the 
world of his store of wisdom and accepts its support, but this 
interchange is not of the same intimate character as in the stage 
of the householder, there being a new sense of distance. 

.*•*** jf 

(Then a tjast corner a day when even such free relations have 
their end, a myth e emancipated soul steps out of all bonds to face 
the Supreme Sod. Ha/ing fulfilled the demands of all worldly 
relations, he must now prepare for the gain of new relations with 
the Infinite. Just as a good housewife, while dealing with diverse 
meu and things in the course of her duties, is after all doing the 
work of her husband’s household all the time, acknowledging 
at ever } 7 step her relationship with him, yet, at the end of the day, 
she puts aside all such work, performs her toilet afresh and, 
thus purified and rejoicing, betakes herself alone with her 
husband to the privacy of their own particular chamber, so does 
the soul, whose world-work is done, put awa } 7 all finite matters 
and come all alone to its communion with its Beloved, finding 
in that consummation the perfection of its own lite^t 

Only in this way can man’s world-life betruly lived from 
one end of it to the other, without being engaged at every step 
in trying conclusions with death, nor being overcome, when death 
comes in due course, as by a conquering enemy. 

For, this four-fold way of India attunes the life of man to 
the grand harmony of the universe, leaving no room for untrained 
desires to forget their simple relations therewith and to pursue 
their destructive career unchecked, but leading them on to their 
ultimate relations with the Supreme. Whatever other end we 
may place before ourselves, — P itriotism, Philanthrophy, however 
big the name, — it can never lead us to finality, but will leave us 
in the lurch suddenly, in the midst of our activities, with the 
question ringing in our ears : What then , what then? 

I feel that the doubt may arise here : how far is it possible 
so to mould the whole people of any country ? To which I would 
reply that when we talk of lighting a lamp, we do not mean 



12 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


setting fire to the whole of it from stand upwards, the, 

wick is ablaze at its tip, the whole lamp is said to T?e alight. 
Whatever may be the ideal of the righteous life, it finds luminous 
expression only in the topmost few. If in any country even a 
small number of its people succeed in realising an ideal, that is 
a gain for the whole ofJtTi If ever the day comes in India when 
her leading men hold aloft the highest Truth and highest Good 
above all other considerations, and regulate their own lives 
accordingly, then they will give a special direction, a special 
power to the efforts of all her people. 

There was a day when the Rishis of India were leading such 
disciplined, purposeful lives, in communion with the Supreme, 
and their spirit was to be seen at work, not only in the religion, 
but in the state-craft, the warfare, the commerce, the literature 
and art, of their time. Not only did Maitreyi say, but the 
whole country was saying with her : 

Yenaham namrita syani kimaham tena kuryam ! 

What have I io do with these, which are not oj immortality f 

If we believe that this protest has been utterly silenced in 
our country, then indeed a complete submission to and slavish 
imitation of the conquering foreignor would be the only recourse 
left to us, — far better success even in that than to be labouring 
under the perpetual futility of attempting to bring the dead to 
life ! 

But that is just what we do not feel and cannot admit. 
However dire may be the outward degeneration which has over- 
taken us, there is an inmost core still alive within us, which 
refuses to acknowledge anything less than the Supreme as the 
highest gain. Even now when any great soul strikes a higher 
note, our whole being responds, and no lesser consideration of 
expediency can stop it from so doing. However we may appear 
to vie with one another in our outward display of loyalty to 
Mammon, our real soul is never completely led away thereby. 

Now-a-days, on occasions of festivity, we have acquired the 
habit of adding a foreign brass band to the usual set of festive 
pipes, thereby creating a horrible confusion of sound. Never- 
theless, the plaintive note of our real yearning may yet be dis- 



April, 1924 J 


WHAT THEN? 


13 


cerned by the sensitive ear, through all its clash and clang. The 
glamour of European civilisation has captivated our eyes, and our 
great ambition is to imitate it, as best we can, in our own feeble 
way. But while, in the public part of our homes, the foreign 
big drum and blatant trumpet proclaim the pride of wealth and 
the competition of fashion, those who are in touch with the privacy 
of our inner life, know that this hideous din does not penetrate 
there, to drown the auspicious conch- blasts which voice the true 
festivity in the depths of our heart. However -vociferously we 
may preach the efficacy of European state-craft and social 
^customs and business metnods, these cannot fill our hearts, — they 
j luthei hurt the ideal of the Highest which is still alive within 
Jus, and our soul cries out against them. 

We were not always this kind of a market crowd, jostling 
and elbowing one another so vulgarly, quarreling over privileges 
and titles, advertising our own worth in bigger and bigger type. 
The whole thing is sheer imitation and mostly sham. It has no 
redeeming features of courtesy or gracefulness. But, before this 
age of make-believe overtook 11s, we had an inherent dignity of 
our own, which was not impaired by plain living or poverty. 
This was for us like a congenital armour which used to protect 
us against all the insults and trials of our political subjection. 
But this natural protection has been wheedled away from us, 
leaving us defenceless and ashamed. Dignity has now become 
an outside thing which we must bolster up by outward show. 
As we no longer reckon inward satisfaction to be the fulness of 
wealth, we have to hunt for its paraphernalia in foreign shops, 
and never can gather together enough of them. And the un- 
meaning excitement of this pursuit, which we have come to look 
upon as the only happiness, has made us, who were once only in 
partial subjection, to become slaves of the foreigner all over. 

But, in spite of all this, I say that it has not worked its way 
into the core of our being. It is yet of the outside and there- 
fore, perhaps, so excessively obvious. Just because we have not 
become really used to our new acquisitions do we make so much 
Of a turmoil about them, like the exaggerated movements of the 
jnexpert swimmer. 



i4 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


I still feel sure tliat if one who is worthy stands before us 
and proclaims that this insane competition, this ephemeral 
wealth, this aimless excitement, is not the best for us ; that each 
set of activities have their natural termination ; that in the per- 
fection of the ending must be our ultimate fulfilment ; and that 
short of the Supreme all else is but petty and futile, — then, even 
through the clamour of the market place, such message cannot 
fail to reach our heart. “True! True! ” it will respond at 
once. “ Never was anything truer! ” Then our school-learnt 
lessons, on the profits of insensate competition and the glories of 
blood-stained nationalism, will drop out of our minds and the 
glitter of armies and the glamour of navies cease to fascinate us. 

Moreover, I cannot at all admit that what is good, is good 
for us alone. It is never true that we must take refuge in 
meekness because we are weak, or that we want righteousness 
only as a convenient cloak for hiding our poverty ! The ideal 
held up high by our sages of old was not meant for a particular 
people, peculiarly situated. It was realised and announced as a 
truth good for all places and times, and so, in our heart of 
hearty, we still believe it to be. 

To prepare during adolescence, in a spirit of reverence and 
by aTife of discipline, for the world-life in which the soul is to 
attain maturity amidst the performance of good works ; to achieve 
in the larger life of the third stage the loosening of its worldly 
bonds so as to qualify the soul for the joy of passing through 
the portals of death to its freedom, — only through such regula- 
human life attain to consistency and fulness of 

really believe this, then we must also recognise that 
each and every people must strive to realise it, overcoming their 
respective obstacles in their own way, if they would be true to 
themselves. If they would really live, then everything else, — 
the luxury of individual riches, the might of nations, — must be 
counted as subordinate. The soul of man must triumph and 
liberate itself, if man’s incessant endeavour during all these ages 
is to attain its fulfilment. 

If that is not to be, what then , what then , what then? 


tion can 
meaning^ 

If we 



WHIFFS OF FAR-EASTERN FRAGRANCE 

FROM OKAKURA’S BOOK OF TEA. 


[On the occasion of our President’s journey to the Further East, on 
an invitation from China, our thoughts cannot but turn to Okakura Kakuzo, 
of the Land of the Rising Sun, to whose subtle unobtrusive influence our 
awakening of twenty year’s ago was so vitally indebted, and whose dearest 
dream was this renewal of intimau telations between the members of the 
Asiatic family of peoples. To liis memory we offer here a few of his own 
flowers, dedicated to the Visva-bhaiati Ideal that was to be. — Ed.] 

We Asiatics are appalled by the curious web of facts and 
fanci.es which, has been woven concerning us. We are pictured 
as living on the perfume of the lotus, if not on mice and cock- 
roaches. Indian spirituality has been derided as ignorance, 
Chinese sobriety as stupidity, Japanese patriotism as the result 
of fatalism. 

Why not amuse yourselves at our expense? Asia returns 
the compliment. There would be further food for merriment if 
you knew all that we have imagined and written about you. You 
have been loaded with virtues too refined to be envied, and 
accused of crimes too picturesque to be condemned. Our wise 
men, who knew, informed us that you had bushy tails somewhere 
hidden in your garments, and often dined off a fricasee of new- 
born babes ! Nay, we had something worse against you : we 
used to think you the most impracticable people on the earth, for 
you were said to preach what you never practised. 

* * * 

The beginning of the twentieth century would have been 
spared the spectacle of sanguinary warfare if Russia had condes- 
cended to know Japan better. What dire consequences to 
humanity lie in this contemptuous ignoring of eastern problems ! 
European Imperialism, which does not disdain to raise the absurd 
cry of the Yellow Peril, fails to realise that Asia may also waken 
to a cruel sense of the White Disaster. Let us stop the continents 
from hurling epigrams at each other, and be sadder, if not wiser, 
by the mutual gain of half a hemisphere. 



l 6 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 

Strangely enough, humanity has so far met in the tea-cup. 
It is the only Asiatic ceremonial which commands universal 
esteem. The white man has scoffed at our religion and our 
morals but has accepted the brown beverage without hesitation. 
The afternoon tea is now an important function in western 
Society. In the delicate clatter of trays and saucers, in the soft 
rustle of feminine hospitality, in the common catechism about 
cream and sugar, we know that the worship of Tea is established. 
The philosophic resignation of the guest to the fate awaiting him 
in the dubious decoction proclaims that in this single instance the 
Oriental spirit reigns supreme. 

* * * 

The heaven of modern humanity is indeed shattered in the 
Cyclopean struggle for wealth and power. The world is groping 
in the shadow of egotism and vulgarity. Knowledge is bought 
through a bad conscience, benevolence practised for the sake of 
utility. The East and the West, like two dragons tossed in a 
sea of ferment, in vain strive to regain the jewel of life. We 
await the great Avatar to repair the grand devastation. Mean- 
while, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brighten- 
ing the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the 
soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of 
evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things. 

# # # 

I 

Translation is always a treason, and as a Ming author 
observes, can at its best be only the reverse side of a brocade, — 
all the threads are there, but not the subtlety of colour or design. 
After all, what great doctrine is there which is easy to expound ? 
The ancient sages never put their teachings in systematic form.] 
They spoke in paradoxes, for they were afraid of uttering half-| 
truths. They began by talking like fools and ended by makin 
their hearers wise. 

People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behavi 
properly. We are wicked because we are frightfully self- 
conscious. We never forgive others because we know that we 
ourselves are in the wrong. We nurse a conscience because m : 



April, 1924] WHIFFS OF FAR-EASTERN FRAGRANCE 17 

are afraid to tell the truth to others : we take refuge in pride 
because we are afraid to tell the truth to ourselves. How can 
one be serious with the world when the world itself is so 
ridiculous? The spirit of barter is everywhere. Honour and 
Chastity ! Behold the complacent salesman retailing the 
Good and the True. One can even buy a so-called Religion, 
which is really but common morality sanctified with flowers and 
music. Rob the Church of her accessories and what remains 
behind ? Yet the trusts thrive marvellously, for the prices are 
absurdly cheap, — a prayer for a ticket to heaven, a diploma for 
an honorable citizenship. Hide yourself under a bushel quickly, 
for, if your real usefulness were known to the world, you would 
soon be knocked down to the highest bidder. 

* * * 

The chief contribution of Taoism to Asiatic life has been in 
the realm of aesthetics. Chinese historians have always spoken 
of Taoism as the “art of being in the world,” for it deals with 
the present — ourselves. 

It is in us that God meets with Nature, and yesterday parts 
from to-morrow. The Present is the moving Infinity, the 
legitimate sphere of the Relative. Relativity seeks adjustment ; 
adjustment is Art. The art of life lies in a constant readjustment 
to our surroundings. 

Taoism accepts the. mundane as it is and, unlike the Con- 
fucians and the Buddhists, tries to find beauty in our world of 
woe and worry. 

* * * 

The special contribution of Zen to Eastern thought was its 
recognition of the mundane as of equal importance with the 
spiritual. The seeker after perfection must discover in his own 
life the reflection of the inner light. The organisation of the 
Zen monastery was very significant of this point of view. 

A Zen monastery differs from those of other Buddhist sects 
inasmuch as it is meant only to be a dwelling place for the monks. 
Its chapel is not a place of worship, but a college room where the 
students congregate for discussion and to practise meditation. 
To every member, except the Abbot, was assigned some special 



l 8 THE VIS VA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 

work in the care-taking of the monastery. Such services formed 
a part of the Zen discipline and every least action had to be done 
absolutely perfectly. Thus many a weighty discussion ensued 
while weeding the garden, paring a turnip, or serving tea. 

Taoism furnished the basis for aesthetic ideals, Zennism 
made them practical. 

H: * 

In Religion the future is behind us, in Art the present is 
the eternal. Art to be fully appreciated, must be true to con- 
temporaneous life. It is not that we should ignore the claims 
of posterity, but that we should seek to enjoy the present more. 
It is not that we should disregard the creations of the past, but 
that we should try to assimilate them into our consciousness. 
Would that we loved the ancients more and copied them less ! 

* w tfc 

It is greatly to be regretted that so much of the apparent 
enthusiasm for Art at the present day has no foundation in real 
feeling. In this democratic age of oars men clamour for what 
is popularly considered the best, regardless of their own feelings. 
They want the costly, not the refined ; the fashionable, not the 
beautiful. To the masses, the contemplation of illustrated 
periodicals, the worthy product of their own industrialism, 
would give more digestible food for artistic enjoyment than the 
early Italians or the Asliikaga masters, whom they pretend to 
admire. As a Chinese critic complained many centuries ago,' 
“People criticise a picture by their ear.’’ It is this lack of! 
genuine appreciation that is responsible for the pseudo-classi^ 
horrors that to-day greet us wherever we turn. 

* * *; 

Rikiu was watching his son Shoan as he swept and waterecjl 
the garden path. “Not clean enough,” said Rikiu, wheji 
Shoan had finished his task, and bade him try again. 

After a weary hour the son turned to Rikiu : “Fathei , 
there is nothing more to be done. The steps have been washJ 1 
for the third time, the stone lanterns and the trees are w# 1 



April, IQ24] WHIFFS OF FAR-EASTERN FRAGRANCE 19 

sprinkled with water, moss and lichen are shining with a fresh 
verdure ; not a twig, not a leaf have I left on the ground.” 

“Young fool,” chided the father, “that is not the way a 
garden path should be swept.” Saying this, Rikiu stepped into 
the garden, shook a tree and scattered over the path gold and 
crimson leaves, scraps of the brocade of Autumn ! 

* * $ 

The Japanese method of interior decoration differs from that 
of the Occident, where we see objects arranged symmetrically 
on mantelpieces and elsewhere. In Western houses we are often 
confronted with what appears to us useless re-iteration. We 
find it trying to talk to a man while his full-length portrait stares 
at us from behind his back. We wonder which is real, he of the 
picture or he who talks, and feel a curious conviction that one 
of them must be a fraud. Many a time have we sat at a festive 
board contemplating, with a secret shock to our digestion, the 
representation of abundance on the dining room walls. Why 
these pictured victims of chase and sport? Why the display of 
family plate, reminding us of those who have dined and are 
dead ? 

❖ * $ 

In the trembling grey of a spring dawn, when the birds 
were whispering in mysterious cadence among the trees, have 
you not felt that they were talking to their mates about the 
flowers ? The primeval man in offering the first garland to his 
maiden thereby transcended the brute. He entered the realm 
of art when he perceived the subtle use of the useless. 

In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends. We 
eat, drink, sing, dance and flirt with their help. We wed and 
christen with flowers. We dare not die without them. We have 
even attempted to speak in the language of flowers. How could 
we live without them ? But sad as it is, we cannot conceal the 
feet that in spile of our companionship with flowers, we have not 
risen very far above the brute. Shrine after shrine has crumbled 
before our eyes ; but one altar forever is preserved, that where- 
on we bum incense to the supreme idol, — ourselves. Our god 



20 


THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh , 1331 


is great and money is his prophet. We devastate Nature in 
order to make sacrifice to him. What atrocities do we not per- 
petrate in the name of culture and refinement ! 

Tell me gentle flowers, teardrops of the stars, nodding your 
heads to the bees as they sing of the sunbeams, are you aware 
of the fearful doom that awaits you ? Dream on, sway and frolic 
while you may in the gentle breezes of summer. To-morrow a 
ruthless hand will close around your throats. You will be 
wrenched asunder limb by limb and borne away from your 
homes. The wretch, she may be passing fair. She may say 
how lovely you are while her fingers are still moist with your 
blood. Tell me, will this be compensation ? 

Flowers, if you were in the land of the Mikado, you would 
meet a dread personage armed with scissors and a tiny saw. He 
would call himself a Master of Flowers. He would cut, bend, 
and twist you into those impossible positions which he thinks it 
proper that you should assume. He would contort your muscles 
and dislocate your bones like any osteopath. He would bum 
you with red-hot coals to stop your bleeding, and thrust wires 
into you to assist your circulation. It would be his boast that 
he could thus keep life within you for a week or two longer. 
What crimes could you have committed in your past incarnation 
to warrant such punishment? 

The wanton waste of flowers among western communities is 
even more appalling. The number of flowers cut daily to adorn the 
ball rooms and bauquet tables of Europe and America, to be 
thrown away on the morrow, must be something enormous ; if 
strung together they might garland a continent ! Beside this 
utter waste of life the guilt of the Flower-master becomes insigni- 
ficant. He at least selects his victims with careful foresight, 
and after death does honour to their remains. Nothing is more 
pitiful than to see a faded flower remorselessly filing upon a 
dung heap. 

Insects can sting. The bird whose plumage is sought can 
fly from its pursuer ; the furred animal whose coat you covet may 
hide at your approach. Alas ! the only flower known to have 
wings is the butterfly ; all the rest stand helpless before the 
destroyer. Have you not noticed that the wild flowers are 



April, J924I WHIFFS OF FAR-EASTERN FRAGRANCE 


21 


becoming scarcer every year? Perhaps they have migrated to 
heaven. 

Even in the case of pot flowers we are inclined to suspect 
the selfishness of man. Why take plants from their homes 
and ask them to bloom midst strange surroundings? Is it not 
like asking birds to sing and mate, cooped up in cages? The 
ideal lover of flowers is he who visits them in their native haunts, 
losing himself amid their mysterious fragrance as he wanders in 
the twilight. It was this spirit which moved the Empress 
Komio, one of our most renowned Nara sovereigns, as she sang : 
“If I pluck ihee, my hand will defile thee. O flower ! Standing 
in the meadows as thou art, I offer thee to the Buddhas of the 
past, of the present, of the future”. 

However let us not be too sentimental. Said Laotse : 
“Heaven and Earth are pitiless.” Said Kobodaishi : “Flow, 
flow, flow, the current of life is ever onward. Die, die, die, 
death comes to all.” Destruction faces us wherever we turn. 
Change is the only eternal, — why not welcome Death as Fife? 
They are but counterparts, one of the other, — the Night and 
Day of Brahma. Why not destroy flowers if thereby 
we can evolve new forms ennobling the world idea? We 
only ask them to join in our sacrifice to the Beautiful. Perhaps 
the flowers can appreciate the full significance of it. They are 
not cowards, like men. 

Some flowers glory in death — certainly the Japanese cherry 
blossoms do, as they freely surrender themselves to the winds. 
For a moment they hover like bejewelled clouds and dance above 
the crystal streams; then, as they sail away on the laughing 
waters, they seem to say : “Farewell O Spring! We are on 
to Eternity!” 



22 


THE VJSVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


IN GOLD AND GREY 

By Harindranath Ciiattopadhyaya. 

Grey squirrels on their boughs, pink water-cranes 
Along the water’s edge, white-coated sheep 
Upon a hill, blue peacocks in the rains 
Are born between God’s waking and our sleep. 


The outcaste driven from his parents’ doors, 

Men toiling like dumb beasts, and babes who weep, 
The ragged beggar, women turned to whores 
Are born between our waking and God’s sleep. 



OUR ELDER BROTHERS, THE KOL PEOPLE 

By Suniti Kumar Chatterji. 

The languages of India belong to four great linguistic 
families — Indo-Aryan or Aryan, Dravidian, Austric (Kol 
and Mon-Khmei), and Tibeto-Chinese. It is not necessary 
to discuss the Aryan and the Dravidian languages. Since the 
dawn of history, these have been the speeches of civilisation in 
India, and as such have been studied from very ancient times — 
the oldest extant literary remains of Aryan the Vedic hymns, 
going back to e. 1,200 B.C. at the latest, and those of Dravidian, 
the oldest Tamil compositions, dating from about the second 
century after Christ. 

The Aryan speech is accepted almost on all hands to have 
been introduced into India from beyond the north-western 
frontier About the Dravidian, opinion is divided, but most 
scholars regard it also as being originally extra-Indian, having 
been brought to India in pre-historic times, before the advent 
of the Aryans. 

The Tibeto-Chinese languages, which are spoken in the 
north-east of India, fall into two groups, Tibeto-Burman 
(including Tibetan and dialects, the various Sub-Himalayan 
speeches, the dialects of the Bodo group in North-eastern and 
Sastern Bengal, the various groups of Assam and Burma 
frontier speeches, and Burmese), and Siamese-Chinese (of which 
group one language, Ahom, was introduced into India in 1228 
when the Tai or Shan people from North-eastern Burma con- 
quered Assam, and this speech is now almost entirely extinct.) 

The original homeland of Tibeto-Chinese seems to have 
been in Western China, and Tibeto-Chinese speakers came to 
India through the eastern and north-eastern frontiers in very 
late times, compared with Dravidian and Aryan, — at a period 
probably not much anterior to Christ. There remain the 
languages of the Austric family, namely, the Kol languages 
(like Santali, Mundari, Kurdu, Gadaba, Savara and Juang), and 
Kbasi : these, now spoken by less than 3.5 millions (Kol about 



24 


THE VIS V A-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


3.2 millions, and Khasi, nearly .18 millions), alone have a right 
to be regarded as representatives of the autochthonous language- 
family of India. 

* * * 

The Kol people at present are confined to a comparatively 
limited tract, in Central India and Eastern India, in the Central 
Provinces, in Chota Nagpur, in Orissa and in West Bengal. At 
one time they were spread all over Northern India, and may be 
in Southern India as well. Traces of a Kol substratum have 
been found in some of the Tibeto-Chinese speeches of the Sub- 
Himalayan tracts, in the so-called ‘pronominalised languages’ 
like Kanawari and Darmiya, Khambu and Dhimal. These 
dialects look like being Tibeto-Burman modified by original Kol 
speakers who have adopted it. 

Then, there is the language called Burushaski, which is 
spoken to the north-west of Kashmir, in the districts of Yasin 
and Hunza-Nagpur ; this language is a puzzle, and it has not 
yet been possible to affiliate it to any known family of speech. 
But a recent theory about Burushaski is that it is connected with 
Kol; which theory, if proved, would seem to extend the vista of 
Kol, or of Primitive Kol, further beyond the Sub-Himalayan 
limits. 

Kol traditions have dim memories of a period of Kol settle- 
ment and rule in Northern India and isolated tribes like the 
Cheros of South-eastern United Provinces were originally Kol 
speaks. The Bhil people of Rajputana and Khandesh, now 
speaking dialects of the Aryan Rajasthani, are in all probability 
of Kol race; and the ‘Kolis’ are another aboriginal tribe in these 
tracts. The Kol area thus extended to Gujrat in the West. 

* * * 

The Aryans, when they first came in touch with the 
aboriginal Kols seem to have called them Nishadas. After the 
establishment of the Aryans in the Gangetic plain, most of the 
Kols were Aryanised, and became transformed into the lower 
orders of Hindu society, and so lost their separate linguistic and 
cultural identity. Those who retreated into the hills and 
forests, and kept up their primitive ways, continued to be called 



April, 1924] OUR ELDER BROTHERS, THE KOL PEOPLE 


25 


wild men’ (Nishada, Sahara, Pulinda, etc.) by the Aryan; and 
with increased knowledge of their life and manners, on the part 
of the Aryan speakers, the names Bhilla and Kolia (cf. hor, ho, 
koro- man, in the various Kol dialects) came to be given to 
them, probably by the middle of the first millennium after 
Christ. From these Middle Indo-Aryan words, our New Indo- 
Aryan terms Bhil and Kol aie derived. 

As numbers of Kol speakers became Aryanised, it is natural 
to expect that some of their words and their habits of thinking 
would be introduced into the new language of their adoption, 
and a few of these would persist even to the present. That a 
similar thing happened with regard to Dravidian has become one 
of the commonest hypotheses in Indo-Aryan linguistics*. The 
habit of counting by twenties, so persistent in Bengal, Bihar 
and the Upper Gangetic plain, is probably to be traced to the 
influence of Kol, in which the highest unit of computation is 
twenty. Some peculiarities of the Bihari (Maithili and Maghai) 
verbal forms are also perhaps due to Kol. 

si: * 

Unfortunately, there was not much curiosity felt in ancient, 
times about the language of foreign or barbarous peoples, 
although their peculiar ways ofleu attracted men. If a few old 
Dravidian or Kol sentences or words were preserved as such in 
some early Sanskrit text, how very precious they would have 
been for the student of language ! Kumarila Bhatta in the 7th 
century A. C., in his ‘Tantra-varttika’ quoted casually a few 


1 'A French scholar has recently shown (J. Przyluski in the ‘Memoires de la 
Societe de Litiguistique/ Paris, Vols. 2 2 and 24) that the Sanskrit words kadali, 
plantain; kambala , blanket; sarkara, sugar, and the group of words linga, languid, 
langala i laguda, lakuta, are in origin Kol words. It has allso been suggested (by 
Prof. Jules Bloch of Paris, in a private communi ration) that the word mayura, 
peacock, is Kol, rather that Dravidian; and tambula, betel leaf, ‘as M. Przyluski ’ 
told me, seems also to be Kol; the root of the word is probably to be found in 
Khasi bal betel leaf; cf. Bengali bar-ai , bar-ui, cultivator of the betel vine. The 
word utpala , lotus’ seems to be Kol as well (cf. Mundari upal-ba, floating flower). 
The Aryan name of the moliwa tree, Skt. madhuha , Neo-Indo- Aryan, mahua, 
looks like being based on the Kol madkam or ma(n)dukam. There must be many 
more words, which are sure to be found out 011 investigation.. Stray words in the 
modern Aryan languages, like Hindi jim-na. , to eat; ( cf . Kol font ) ; Panjabi hurt, a 
girl (cf. Santali hurt), dialectal Bengali hamra, buffalo, (cf. Ho kera ); Hindi chiriya, 
chimriya, bird, which is usually connected with Sanskrit chataka, sparrow (but 
cf, Kol ccmrem , bird) ; Bengali mera, ram (cf. Kol mcrom , goat) ; Bengali) meni, 
cat (cf. Kurku minu) ; and possibly many more, seem to be of Kol origin. 



26 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


Tamil words, apparently as they were spoken in his time ; these 
side by 1 ' side with the forms actually preserved in the old Tamil 
of literature and of inscriptions, have opened up a new line of 
argument about the phonetics of old Tamil and of primitive 
Dra vidian. A stray Iranian word in Herodotus, or a Gallic word 
m some classical writer, is as valuable to the philologist as a 
rare coin or inscription is to the historian. For Kol, even such 
stray words are absent in the oldest literary remains of India, 
in Sanskrit. 

The Kol or other non-Aryan speaker came under the spell 
of the superior culture of the Aryan, and he quietly gave up his 
own language, and accepted that of his master or civiliser. Only 
here and there, in place-names, in expressions not entirely ousted 
by Aryan, have relics of his old speech survived, and that 
too in a hopelessly mutilated form. And with such non-Aryan 
speakers as remained faithful to their old life and old speech, 
the language continued to have its normal development. 

It was the scientific curiosity of the 19th century that first 
began to enquire into apparently unprofitable subjects like the 
customs and languages of uncultured peoples, which no one 
would be sorry to let die. This curiosity, of course, was brought 
to India by the European scholar. The Kol languages were 
taken up by about the middle of the last century. B. H. Hodgson 
first studied them, and he thought they were allied to Dra vidian, 
a view in which he was followed by other scholars (among whom 
the Rev. F. Hahn is the latest, although this view has been 
given up by most students) ; and Max Muller in 1854 first dis- 
sociated the Kol languages from Dravidian, and classed them as 
an independent group, which he named Munda. 

Muuda ( = Skt. munda-ka) means a ‘head-man’ and is a term 
of respect among the tribe known to Hindus and Europeans as 
Mundas and Kols, but calling themselves simply Horoko mean- 
ing men. This tribe number barely half a million. The 
corresponding term of respect among the Santals, by far the 
larget Kol tribe (1.7 millions) is Manjhi, which is an Aryan word 
meaning ‘man of the middle’ (from Skt. madhya-ka). Kol is 
thus in every respect a better name than Munda : it is an 
accurate term, an ancient term, and a term which includes the 



April, 1924) OUR ELDER BROTHERS, THE KOL PEOPLE 


27 


distant Kurkus as well : only tlie tribes of Orissa, the Juangs, 
the Gadabas and the Savaras, may not strictly be brought 
under Kol, as they seem to have lost the word corresponding to 
the Santal hor : but their speeches show sufficient agreement 
with the Kol speeches to sanction their inclusion within the 
group. 

* * * 

So much for the term Kol. Meanwhile other languages of 
South-eastern Asia and Indonesia, as well as of the Pacific 
islands, both of civilised and barbarous peoples, were being 
studied. There is the Mon people in Burma, numbering over 
220,000, new confined to a small tract round about the Gulf of 
Martaban, and in the part of Siam adjacent to it. The Mons 
differ both in race and language from the Burmese, who are now 
the dominant people of Burma. At one time the Mons were 
spread over the greater part of Burma. In the earfy centuries 
rfter Christ, and possibly earlier, they had received Indian 
culture and Indian religion Buddhism and Brahmanism, from 
the people of the Kalinga country, and possibly also from those 
of Bengal and Upper India, who used to go to Burma as 
merchants and adventurers, and established themselves as the 
dominant race there. 

The ancestors of the present-day Burmese were at that time 
wild Tibeto-Chinese speaking tribes living to the north of 
Burma, and thy poured down into the valleys of the country, 
established themselves first in the north, and after a protracted 
struggle with the Mons, lasting for centuries, at last forced them 
to the south, put an end to their rule, and entirely absorbed them 
in Pegu and in South Burma generally. The Indian culture of 
the Mons, with its Buddhist religion and its Indian script, was 
taken up by the Burmans. Now, it has been found out that the 
Mon language, which has epigrapical and other documents some 
thousand years old, presents such a striking similarity with Kol, 
that they must both be referred to a common origin. 

The Khasi language in Assam, again, is an island of alien 
speech in a tract in which the non-Aryan languages are all 
Tibeto-Burman. Khasi agrees with Kol and Mon, and is thus 



28 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 

apparently a link in a chain once extending from Central India 
to Burma, the other links in between being lost. This chain 
extends further to the East. 

In Cambodia live the Khmers, now numbering over 1.5 
millions, and their speech is a sister dialect to Mon. The 
Khmers were once spread over Siam ; and culture, religion, 
legends, art and letters, everything was brought to them by 
settlers from India. By the 6tli century A. C. the laud of the 
Khmers, like that of the Mons had become part of a Greater 
India. The history of the Khmers presents a parallel to that 
of their cousius the Mons. Indianised in culture and religion 
and in general mentality, ’though not in language, they were 
ovenvlielmed by the Tibeto-Chinese speaking Siamese, coining 
down to the south like the Burmese. The Siamese forced the 
Khmers to Cambodia, where they are now confined ; but, like the 
Burmese, they obtained their Buddhistic religion, their Indian 
culture, their writing, from the people they conquered. 

In Indo-China, there are other isolated speeches, like the 
Palaung, the Wa, the Stieng, the Bahnar, etc., which are allied 
to Kol-Khasi-Mon-Khmer. 

We can very ■well think of* a period when one type of speech 
extended from Gujarat, the Ganges Valley, and the Himalayan 
slopes, through Bengal, right up to the Mekliong basin. We 
can imagine that about the beginning of the Christian era, and 
during the first five hundred years after Christ, when Indian 
influences were actively working among the Mons and the 
Khmers, all this was of the nature of civilising the Kol peoples 
in India itself. Aryanised Kols, u r e 1 ded into one people with 
Aryanised Dravidians from the Ganges Valley and the Central 
Indian tracts, undoubtedly had some share in the work of 
bringing civilisation to their kinsmen in Indo-China, side by side 
with the true Aryans, Brahmans and Kshatrivas, and mixed 
groups from Upper India. 

* * * 


The most important Kol language, from the point of view 
of number and extent, is unquestionably Santali. The Rev. 



April, 1924] OUR ELDER BROTHERS, THE KOL PEOPLE 


29 


Bodding thinks, in his most valuable work on the phonetics of 
Santali, that it is more faithful to its native Kol character than 
its sister-dialect Mundari, which is sometimes regarded as the 
purest dialect. Santali is spoken by a larger number than the 
Aryan Assamese, for instance, and also many other better 
known languages of the world. The difference between Santali 
and other Kol speeches is very small indeed. 

The Santab were originally in Hazaribagb district, where 
some 5 centuiies ago they and the Muudas formed one people. 
They are now found in the Western Bengal districts of Midna- 
pore, Bankura, Bank ura, Burdwan and Birbhum, and in the 
Santal Parganas, in Manbhum and in Morbhanj ; and scattered 
communities of Santals are found elsewhere. They came with- 
in the Bengali-speaking area only very recently, mostly in the 
iStli and early 19th centuries. There were in West Bengal 
other Kol-speaking tribes, brothers and cousins of the Santals, 
who have long been Aryanised possibly the Suhmas and the 
Radlias, about whose barbaric character the Jaina texts dating 
from about 3rd century B. C. testify, and who have given their 
names to West Bengal, and have long since merged in the lower 
ranks of a Bengali-speaking nation. 

The ancestors of Hindu castes like the Bagdis, the Bauris, 
the Hadis and the Dorns were in all probability Kols. Some of 
the customs of the Hadis and Dorns in and about Calcutta seem 
very much like Kol : witness tlieir Cult of Bir-Kali, who is 
propitiated by offerings of rice-beer and sacrifice of pigs, and 
who is so called ‘because she roams about in the forests,’ as a 
Dom once explained to me (the Kol word for forest being bir). 
And perhaps also there was another tribe, the Chuhadas, whose 
name has given the Bengali word for a wild fellow, a ruffian, — 
cho(h)dd. The caste-name Chuhdd also recalls the Chuhras, 
a sweeper caste in the Panjab . 

Some of the Kol speakers, when they were of the ruling 
classes, even became Kshatriyas within the Hindu pale. The 
Santals must must have been living to the west of the Bengali 
or Aryanised area, and must have been known to the Bengali 
Hindus of pre-Moslem times, as an important border-tribe : the 



30 l'HK VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 

very mime by which the Indians (and following them the 
Europeans) know them means ‘borderers’ : Saomtal, from Old 
Bengali Sawamta-wala, Skt. Samanta-pala. 

Next in importance to the Santals are the Mundas, number- 
ing over 400,000, and the Hos, over 300,000 and allied tribes of 
Chota Nagpur and Central Provinces. They possess the same 
traditions, their religions practices and beliefs are the same, and 
their ways of life are identical. 

* * * 

The Kol tribes, as represented by the Santals and the 
Mundas and the Hos, are thus among the most primitive peoples 
in India, possibly the oldest people in our country, after the 
Negroid stocks found in South India. And they are among the 
most lovable of peoples. In their primitive and unsophisticated 
state, they are like big children : frank and sincere, honest and 
straight-forward, even when ‘civilisation’ has penetrated to 
them and sought to spoil them in every way ; gentle and peaceful 
by disposition, hardworking enough to meet their simple needs, 
loving flowers, loving mirth and music, loving dance and song, 
generally with strong family attachments, living a clean and 
healthy life in the midst of nature : thej^ present the picture of 
a life almost idylie in its charm for the over-civilised mortal in 
the cities. 

The poetry underlying much of the life of the Kols, where 
they have not been spoiled, has been felt and appreciated by 
people of culture in Bengal. The Kol already figures in Bengali 
fiction, in a number of short stories, full of pathos, full of 
sympathy. His life has been viewed and studied here and there 
by people who have come in touch with him. The neo-Bengal 
School of Painting has given us some beautiful paintings of Kol 
life, — Santal girls, Santal couples, and above all, that glorious 
picture by Nandalal Bose, Dance in the Forest, a group of Kol 
girls dancing to the sound of the drum ( dumang or mddal) in 
the flowering forest — a vision of colour and of throbbing life. 

The religion of the Kols is animism, or worship of invisible 
nature spirits, called Bongas, with a supreme spirit Sing-bonga, 



April, 1924 ] OUR ELDER BROTHERS, THE KOL PEOPLE 


31 


who is identified with the Sun or Day-light. Sing-bonga in the 
words of the Rev. Father Hoffmann, is the invisible creator of 
everything, the ruler of all, the utterly great or supreme one, 
the god who is appealed to in distress, the solemn witness of 
men’s good and bad deeds. We have there a conception of the 
deity which is quite lofty, and which is not much removed from 
that of the average man in a civilised community. In addition 
to these bongas, the Kols believe in the spirits of the fathers, and 
the ritual of worship connected vith this cult has a poetic aspect 
too. 

. * * * 

It ’s now difficult, however, L o dissociate from the current 
Kol beliefs and religious and other observances the genuine Kol 
elements from those adopted by the Kols from their Hindu 
neighbours. If must also be noted that a great many ideas, 
cults and practices of popular Hinduism owe their origin to the 
Kols and other non-Aryans who have long ago been brought 
within the Hindu fold ; nay, in philosophic Hinduism too, some 
notions, e.g. that of transmigration, which cannot be traced to 
Indo-European sources, a*e essentially of the Indian soil, and 
had their origin undoubtedly in the animistic religion of the non- 
Aryans absorbed in the Hindu people. 

The Kols do not have civilisation, but like all primitive 
people — the Kols emphatically are not savages — they have a 
culture, which is bound up with their language and their life. 
Kol life with its socio-religious institutions, its periodical 
festivals and gatherings, its songs and dances, its vivid style of 
ornament, its sense of wonder for life around, in the passing on 
of its tales and traditions from generation to generation, has kept 
up this culture as a living thing. It is this culture and these 
traditions that make life beautiful. When these are destroyed, 
with nothing to take their place except a material civilisation 
that looks only to the body, men become savages in the midst of 
civilisation ; and such civilised savages are not uncommon in 
Europe and America, both among the richest classes who only 
worship Mammon, and among the slum-dwellers. 

Kol life, however, cannot keep up much longer its primitive 
outlook, which is that of the forester and hunter. The times 



32 


THE VIS V A-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


and outside influences are too strong for it. There is the influx 
of Dikus, or Hindu and Musalman outsiders, into the heart of 
the Kol country : and outside influences in the shape of Hinduism 
and Christianity are modifying profoundly the life of the Kol, 
and undermining his national culture, making it lose its 
special features, and so destroying it. 

Hinduism has spread among the Kols without any organised 
propaganda ; the changes brought about through contact with 
Hinduism have been gradual and unconscious, and, it .seems, 
without any antagonism from the Kols. Whole communities 
have accepted Hindu notions and practices in their religious and 
social life without tliei*e being any appreciable disturbance ot the 
milieu in which the Kol lived and thought. 

This, of course, has been impossible with Christianity, as a 
militant religion which claimed to have the truth all to itself. 
It rejected all ideas and notions not in conformity with its 
own, and instead of seeking to transmute them gradually to 
something higher, it sought to sweep them away to make room 
for another world of ideas totally incomprehensible to a primitive 
people, a world evolved in a society entirely different. Of course, 
this was done with the best of intentions and the deepest of 
convictions. But this has brought about, in those cases where 
it has been successful, a total dislocation of the old life with its 
own standard; and, while substituting many of the amenities of 
civilisation and bringing in the outward forms of a nobler faith, 
it has seriously impaired the stability and often the self-respect 
of those who have been overwhelmed by it. 

I do not mean in the least to disparage the message of the 
God-man Christ. But, in days gone by, there has been too often, 
on the part of the average missionary, a blindness to all that is 
good and noble and beautiful in ‘heathen’ or barbarous culture, 
an inability to appreciate the good points in a primitive or non- 
Christian society. It must be recognised on the other hand that 
there has also been no lack of missionaries, from time to time, 
who could rise above the ordinary prejudices. 

I have made this digression only to pay tribute to the work 
done by these enlightened missionaries, who, actuated by a 



April, 1924] OUR ELDER BROTHERS, THE KOL PEOPLE 


33 


broader humanity and by a scientific curiosity, have recognised 
the value of native culture, studied and systematised it and 
sought to preserve the best elements therein, while endeavouring 
to bring to it the nobler spiritual life according to the teachings 
of Jesus. We are grateful to missionaries like the late Rev. 
L. O. Skrefsrud and the Rev. P. O. Bodding, and to the Rev. 
Father J. Hoffmann, and the Rev. A. Nottrott, and others, for 
enabling us to add another world to our domain of study and 
the sjmipathetic understanding of our brother-man, the Kol folk. 

* * * 

The Kol. s lacked intellectual life ; they never had any 
system of writing, and they could not as a consequence have had 
any literature as a conscious production of their cultural life. 
But they have a rich store-house of traditional tales and songs. 
Story-telling and song-craft are common to all Kol peoples, as 
well as music (playing on the deep-toned drum, called dumang 
by the Kols and mddal by Bengalis, and on the bamboo-flute) 
and dancing.* 

Stray songs from the Santali have appeared in the Bengali 
periodicals ; and a collection of Santali songs appears to have been 
made by the Rev. P. O. Bodding ( cf . pp. 100-105 of his 
Materials for a Santali Grammar). It seems that the Santal, 
although he possesses a musical soul, has expressed himself 
better in narrative than in song. 

The Mundari songs are among the most beautiful specimens 
of poetry of the simple and primitive type : every one who has 
read them will agree that they can take their place among the 
fairest flowers in the garden of Indian poetry. These are all 
little lyrics, there being no long poems or ballads. Love, des- 
criptions of nature, the chase, dialogues, laments, and occasional 
narration of some big event, — these are the subject matters of 
Kol poetry. 

*The outside world has been enabled to taste the beauty and sweetness of this 
fountain-head of primitive nature and love-poetry through the monographs of the 
Rev. Nottrott (Mundari-Kol Iyieder, in the Zeitschrift fur Volkskunde iii, pp. 381 ff., 
referred to by Grierson in the linguistic Survey of India), of the Rev. Father 
J. Hoffmann (Mundari Poetry, Music and Dances in the Memoirs of the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, 1907, Vol. IT No. 5, pp. 85-120)., of Mr. Sarat Chandra Roy, 
the eminent Bengali anthropologist, now Professor in the University of Patna (in 
his Mundas and their Country, Calcutta, 1912, pp. 508 ff. and in the pages of the 
Hindustan Review subsequently), and of a few other scholars. 



34 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


Here is a poem, from Father Hoffmann’s collection, itself 
delicate as a flower : 

Into what bunch of flowers hast thou grown, maiden? 

Thou art fragrant like the flowers. 

Into what bower hast thou blossomed, maiden? 

Thou art full of perfume like a bouquet. 

(Or) dost thou wash thyself in flowers, maiden, 

(That) thou art fragrant like the flowers? 

(Or) dost thou bathe in blossoms, maiden, 

(That) thou art full of perfume like a bouquet? 

Another Mundari lover addresses his beloved in the 
following terms, as paraphrased by Mr. Roj^ : 

How lovely thy head with wealth of waving hair, 

Its locks with red twine tied in round knot fair. 

O ! day and night, thou wreaths of flowers dost weave, 

For thee my heart doth burn and bosom heave ! 

How bracelets and armlets those fair arms bedeck. 

And necklace bright adorns thy beauteous neck. 

Sweet sounds the jingling pola on thy feet, 

For thee my heart doth burn and anxious beat. 

The call of the drum to the dance makes the Kol youth's 
heart leap with joy, and this is finely expressed* in the following 
poem : 

The dumang sounds at Kot Karambu, 

My heart leaps at the sound, 

At the sound. 

The kartal rings at Barigra, 

My heart with glee doth bound 

At the sound. 

The dumang sounds at Kot Karambu, 

O ! haste, my dear, to the dance, 

To the dance. 

The kartal clanks at Barigara, 

O ! rise, my dear, from thy trance 
To the dance. 



April, iq2 4 ] OUR ELDER BROTHERS, THE KOL PEOPLE 


35 


The traditional tales and narratives of the Kols have been 
partially collected. In 1870-71 the late Rev. L. Q. Shrefsrud 
had fortunately got an old Santal sage named Kdlean (- =Kalydna ) 
to narrate to him the traditions of his people and accounts of 
their social life and institutions, which he faithfully took down 
and published in the original Santali in 1887. This book — 
Horkoren Mare H apram ko-rea k ’ Katha — is the great classic in 
their language, which, thanks to this enlightened Christian 
Missionary, the Santals have been enabled to possess. The 
language of this prose Pnrana and Grihya and Dharma Sutra of 
the Santals is in its purest form, such as it was spoken half a 
century ago, when Santal life was much more self-contained. 
But it already shows a large number of Aryan (Bihari and 
Bengali) words; and there are interspersed Bengali and Bihari 
songs, showing the invasion of Hindu ideas into their domestic 
and religious life. 

It is pleasing to note that as an appendix to the second 
edition of the Rev. Skrefsrud’s book, Mr. Bodding prints the 
resolutions which a number of representative Santals passed at 
Dumka in February, 1916, expressing ‘what they would wish 
to become the law of inheritance of women among Santals : ’ a 
fitting pendant to a collection, of national importance for the 
Santals, of their social institutions and traditions, which, it may 
be hoped, they will not let die, in so far as they are beautiful, 
for all the Christian religion which they might be receiving. 

In addition to the traditional stories, and stories relating 
to witch-craft, the tales dealing with the bongas and their rela- 
tions with men and women are specificially Kol. These last are 
not many. The English reader will find then in the collection 
of Santal Tales by C. H. Bompas ( Folklore of the Santal 
Parganas, London, 1909). But some at least among them are 
very beautiful, and they certainly ought to be better known. 
Some of these deal with the old theme of the love of a mortal 
youth or maiden and a sylvan spirit or godlmg. There are only 
two or three representative genres. 

A typical story is of a girl who goes to the forest to pluck 
leaves with her companions, meets a forest spirit or godling, a 



36 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


bonga kora, who generally lives in a cave, stays with him, and 
is happy, but her friends and parents do not like this connection, 
and they try to kill her bonga lover, and bring her home ; but the 
bonga does not give up the girl ; her head aches and aches, and 
she dies in a short time, apparently to join her lover in the world 
of the bongas. 

Or it is of a young herdsboy tending his buffaloes or cattle 
and playing on his bamboo flute in the woodjr hills, and he is 
loved by a bonga girl, who comes to him, looking like a pretty 
human maiden. This is the Kol version of the myth of 
Aphrodite and the herdsman Anchises, and other Greek stories, 
and is no less charming. The bonga girl inhabits a spring, ‘on 
the margin of which grew many altar flowers’, a little detail 
which the Santal narrator gives. The herdsboy goes into the 
waters of the spring to pluck flowers for the girl, and she casts 
some sort of spell on her lover, and takes him down along the 
spring to her people in the bonga world. There the. seats are 
coiled snakes, and crouching tigers and leopards are the watch- 
dogs. 

The bongas sometimes go out hunting with their tigers and 
leopards, and men cutting wood in the jungle are their quarry. 
Sometimes the young man comes out and lives as a man among 
men, but meets secretly his bonga wife in some underwater place 
in the forest, and his affairs prosper exceedingly, and he becomes 
a jan guru — a man of oracles. This reminds one of the old 
Roman legend of King Numa and the nymph Egeria. The 
bongas are sometimes mischievous creatures, thievish and sly, 
who however can be non-plussed by cleverer men. 

These Kol stories of the bongas resemble more than any- 
thing else the Celtic (Irish) stories about the fairy folk the sidhe 
or shee, and their loves with mortals; and the brownies and 
elves of Northern European popular mythology. Ethnology 
might see traces of a pre-Kol race in these bonga stories, just as 
the shee are but pre-Irish dwellers of Ireland translated into the 
domain of legend ; but in the meanwhile, we can enjoy them as 
the embodiment of the mystery and romance of forest life such 
as it impressed the untutored Kol. 



April, 1924] OUR EUDliR BROTHERS, THE KOL PEOPLE 37 

The Vedic Aryan peopled the forest and the waters and the 
hills with the goddess Aranyani, with wood-nymphs and with 
gods, with the Apsaras and the Gandharvas; the Greek with 
wood and water-nymphs, the Dryads and the Nereids, the Satyrs 
and the god Pan ; and the Kol saw the bonga kora and the bonga 
kuri — fairy youths and maidens — in the deep virgin woods of 
India that encompassed his hamlet, or his homestead. 

The study of Kol language, ethnology, folk-lore, has thus 
its important aspects. A great part of India has never been 
predominantly the Arya’s country. In the making of our 
people, at least among the masses of the lower ranks, there has 
been undoubtedly a Kol element, and a strong one too. Certain 
tracts, e.g., the Central Indian plateaux, are overwhelmingly 
Kol. We shall be guilty of gracelessness and of national 
snobbery if in Northern India, in the pride of our Aryan 
language and culture, we ignore our humble non-Aryan 
relations — the Kols, the Bodos and others. 

The study of the Kol speeches as a discipline, like all 
scientific studies, has a unique value for itself as well as with 
reference to the study of our Aryan mother-tongues. To unfold 
the grammatical structure of Santali or Mundari, of course, would 
be a pleasure only for the specialist. But a slight knowledge of 
Kol would help ordinary people also, while studying modern 
Indo-Aryan philology, to find out the points of contact between 
Kol and Aryan, where Aryan has assimilated to Kol, about which 
any Aryan speaker, with a certain amount of culture, and 
interest in his mother-tongue, cannot fail to feel curious. 


( From The Study of Kol in the Calcutta Review for September, 1923). 



THE JURIDICAL LIFE IN FRANCE, AND THE 

LAWYER 


[-1 lecture delivered under the auspices of the Visva-Bharati 

Sa mmilani.] 

By Prof. Henri Solus. 

I need not hesitate to express the joy which I felt when I 
was asked to speak to you on the juridical life in France. I 
know I am amongst friends ; and between friends, is it not true, 
c-ne takes a special pleasure in communicating one’s thoughts and 
exchanging one’s experiences ? Nevertheless, I must confess 
to you that, after having accepted the invitation to speak on 
this subject, I was scared, to a certain extent, by the vastness of 
its scope. 

Is there not the danger of losing our way in the survey of 
so extensive a domain, the veritable world b} ? itself, which forms 
the juridical life of a nation ? That is why I resolved to find in 
that world a god who would there create order and unity, a god 
around whom we could group the principal institutions, a god 
who would be — to speak a little arbitrarily — the centre of that 
juridical life, the aspects of which are manifold and complex. 

I had to find that Divinity : I thought immediately of the 
Lawyer. 

This choice is not exclusively inspired by the desire of 
flattering ourselves, dear gentlemen, who belong to the Bar, 
or who have the intention to enter there some day. My choice 
is rather the result of general considerations founded on reason. 

In France, indeed, the r61e and the authority of the Lawyer 
in the development of its juridical life as well as in the evolution 
of its political and social life, are, and always have been, con- 
siderable. In th.e grand family of the juridical officials (Les gens 
de robe), which in the Middle- Ages enjoyed a great consideration 
and influence, Lawyers held a preponderating pi, ace. Their 
corporations, their Bar, was a real social force; it nurtured 



April, 1924] 


THE ' JURIDICAL LIFE IN FRANCE 


39 


invaluable traditions of honour and probity; and, above all, it 
cultivated the most noble independence in the face of State power. 

In th.e Revolution of 1789, which took a good account of the 
lawyer, the Bar, amongst other corporations, was one of the first 
to be suppressed. And Napoleon himself, jealous of his own 
authority which he wanted to make decisive in the realisation of 
his great projects, did not hesitate to proclaim : “So long as I 
shall have the sword by my side, I want the tongue of the lawyers 
to be amputated, if they me it against the government.” 

This kind of feeling against Lawyers, however, did not last 
for a long time. The Bar was re-established a little after, along 
with the Faculties of Law. And gradually, the order of the 
Advocate recovered, in the juridical life of the nation, all the 
lustre, authority and influence to which I shall refer presently. 

Please remember, meanwhile, that the Divinity whom I have 
chosen wants neither antiquity nor authority and, I may be 
permitted to add, lacks neither grace nor charm, since in. 
P'rance, to-day, women also enjoy the privilege of being lawyers. 

Li reality, for a long time, admission to the Bar was refused 
to women. But as the result of the evolution of manners, the 
old notion of the fragility of the fair sex and their inexperience 
of affairs, which were the principal motives of disqualification, 
gradually gave way. And the Frenchwoman, by her intelli- 
gence and energy, urged on by the growing necessity of earning 
her own livelihood, soon overcame all hesitation in addressing 
herself to the difficult task of studying some of the subjects which 
were formerly considered as the special preserve of men. In 
course of time, she opened a way for herself into all the so- 
called “liberal professions”; and having succeeded as artist, as 
doctor, as professor, even as engineer, she extorted from the 
the French Legislature, in 1902, the right of being an Advocate. 

Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, that you are acquainted with 
the scope of our discourse and the aims which I propose to 
pursue, — to describe to you the juridical life in France, con- 
sidering it above all from the stand-point of the Lawyer, — I may 
be permitted to proceed to th.e heart of the subject, and shall deal, 
on the one hand, with the entry of the Lawyer into his profession, 
and on the other, with his functions therein. 



40 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 

The making of a Lawyer. 

To become a lawyer, in France, it is not sufficient that the 
noble sentiment “to defend widows and orphans” should be 
deeply rooted in the heart. Before helping citizens to secure 
their rights, before assisting the judges in their delicate task of 
administering justice, the Advocate must possess, first of all, 
the necessary juridical knowledge, attested by academic qualifi- 
cations of which the diploma of “Licenciate in Law” is the very 
minimum. Our future lawyer must therefore begin by joining 
the University, or rather, its Faculty of Law. 

In France, indeed, the Universities are the reunion of 
diverse Faculties, of Law, of Literature, of Science, of Medicine. 
Every University — there are fifteen, all in the great cities, and 
most of them very old (the University of Poitiers, to which 
I have the honour to belong at present, having been founded in 
the beginning of the 15th century, when Descartes was teaching 
there, being already full of students as is attested by La Fontaine) 
— every University, I say however, did not possess all these 
Faculties corresponding to the different branches of human 
knowledge; in fact we have even now only 13 Faculties of Law. 
As a compensating factor, we often find, grouped around about 
the Universities, many an institute working harmoniously there- 
with, such as institutes of applied physics and chemistry, com- 
mercial institutes, colonial institutes, schools of minerology ; 
schools of fine arts, — a detailed enumeration would be tedious. 

To bring our thoughts back to the Lawyer, and reverting 
to the question of the Faculty of Law, permit me to say that the 
student, formed in our Lycees by a solid system of secondary 
education ( enseignement secondarie), goes thenceforth to pursue 
in the Faculty of Law a system of high education ( cnseignement 
superieur ) under Professors of the Faculty of Law exclusively 
devoted to their teaching work, and are finally selected for the 
Bar after a competitive examination ( concours d’ Agregation) 
which is held every second year only in Paris. At these exami- 
nations appear candidates from the whole of France, all of whom 
must be proficient in Law and not less than 25 years in age. 

Thus we see that a long scientific preparation specially trains 



April , 1924] 


'THE JURIDICAL LIFE IN FRANCE 


41 


the would-be Advocates for the final test awaiting them, that is 
to say, over and above all, a proficiency in the studies and books 
which form the basis of the French juridical science, a knowledge 
of and ability to expound not only the positive solutions of legal 
questions emanating from the tribunals, but also the great and 
fundamental principles of jurisprudence. 

As a matter of fact, the Professor in France does not care 
so much to burden the memory of his students with details of 
practice and case laws which are easily to be found in books of 
leference, as to form in them the legal instinct. The Professor 
strives to make them acquire the reasoning attitude ; and with 
that aim, he brings them in touch with the sources ; makes them 
understand the history of institutions, tracing their evolution ; 
and finally establishes the legal principles and their spirit. 

Then, quite in a different direction, the Faculties organize, 
outside the general lectures (cours magistraux) , some special 
lessons called directions d’ etudes, throughout which the students 
are individually initiated into theoretical and practical researches, 
comparison of texts, juridical discussions with reference to Law 
Reports, the importance ,v f which grows from day to day. Ju 
other words, the theoretical and fundamental notions gathered in 
the general lectures are strengthened by contact with the practical 
juridical life. 

For that purpose, all the French Faculties of Law are 
organised in the same manner. There is no gradation or 
hierarchy. And if the Facuhy of Law in Paris has acquired an 
incomparable halo, — on account of the number and the authority 
of her professors, selected from the master jurists whose books 
and teaching have left a permanent mark ; on account of the 
number of her students (more than 8000) ; on account of her rich 
collections and library,- -the other Faculties of Law in the Pro- 
vinces are not less flourishing. And as the professors receive 
tli.eir normal official advancements without changing their place, 
you will understand why there are in all the Faculties some 
eminent men who remain there attracted by the calm of the 
Provincial life, so favourable for sustained studies and specula- 
tive researches, before they are called to teach in the Faculty of 
Paris. 



42 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 

Such are, then, the surroundings in which the future 
Lawyers work in order to become full-fledged jurists. After 
3 years of these studies, and after successfully passing the 3 
compulsory examinations, he will have the diploma and the title 
of “Licenciate in Law”. As regards the higher grade of 
‘ ‘ Doctor of Law” which requires profound studies on the part 
of young scholars, it is conferred after two further examinations 
are passed, followed by the sustaining of a thesis. But the title 
of Doctor, as I told you, is not indispensable for practising as an 
Advocate, the title of “Licenciate” being deemed to ensure the 
requisite minimum of legal knowledge. 

The fundamental preparation for the duty of Advocacy 
received in the University, is supplemented in the Palace of 
Justice itself by another discipline intimately connected with the 
profession. That stage follows when the lawyer is sworn in. 
It is now that he has the honour of wearing his robe, of which 
he is so proud. And, he is initiated either alone, or more often 
as the junior to some renowned Advocate, into the real business 
life. 

In the Faculty he has received the technical training, in the 
Palace of Justice he has the first direct contact with practice and 
procedure. He will plead, he will learn his rights; but at the 
sam.e time he will be informed of the duties and obligations of 
his profession, of which the Bar, in keeping with its old tradi- 
tions of honour and dignity, enforces a strict observance. And, 
after 3 years of apprenticeship, he may demand his enrolment on 
the books of the order of Advocates; whereupon, only, can he 
exercise to the fullest extent his real functions. 

But, — and I here enter into the second part of my discourse 
— what really are the functions of the Lawyer? 

The Lawyer’s functions. 

These may be summarised and characterised in a simple 
sentence : the lawyer pleads before the tribunals. 

I shall not speak, ladies and gentlemen, about the formal 
pleading which consists in defending the client by the speech, 
because you understand it in India quite in the same way that 



April, 1Q24 ] 


THE JURIDICAL LIRE IN FRANCE 


43 


we French people do. And, even more, I may make bold to 
state that the temperament of the French Advocate beats a great 
resemblance with that of a Bengali Advocate. His speech is 
generally as fluent, warm and convincing ; and his gesture as easy 
and expressive. Moreover, in France, as in India, the 
Advocate’s only function is to plead. The writing of the proce- 
dure is not entrusted to his care, but to that of officials such as 
solicitors and attorni.es. 

But, what is the character of the Tribunals before which the 
French Advocate has to plead? Here, I am bound to give you 
some idea about the judicial organisations in France. 

In a general way, one can say that there is in France, for all 
cases of a certain importance, two degrees of jurisdiction : of first 
and of second instance. The Courts of first instance — I shall 
deal only with the ordinary jurisdictions and leave out of dis- 
cussion the exceptional tribunals, such as the Justices of the Peace 
for small acairs, the Commercial Tribunal or Council of 
experienced men ( Counseils de Prud’ -Hommes) for litigations 
relating to the contracts between working men and their 
employers — the Courts of first instance, as I say, consist in the 
Civil Tribunals of wards ( Tribunaux civils d’ arrondissement) 
so called because there is one of them in every ward. As concerns 
the jurisdictions of second instance they consist in the Courts of 
Appeal ( Course d’ Appel), of which there are 26 in France. Tbe 
judiciary composing them are more numerous, more experienced, 
more respectable, and incidentally more sumptuous with their red 
robes compared to the black worn by judges of the lower tribunals. 

But, above the Civil Tribunals and the Courts of appeal, 
outside the juridical hierarchy altogether, there is one 
Supreme Jurisdiction quite unique in the whole of France and 
sitting in Paris, the Cour de Cassation. The Court of Cassation 
is divided into 3 chambers and consists of 45 eminent Judges, 
who hav.e arrived at the summit of their professional career. The 
splendour of the Court room and the solemnity of the procedure, 
not to speak of the magnificent costume of the counsel, impress 
one as entirely in keeping with its position as the Supreme Court 
of Judicature in the country. 

The functions of this Supreme Court are original and special ; 



44 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


being to examine if the decision of the Civil Tribunals and the 
Courts of Appeal conform to the established Law, and thereby 
to maintain the uniformity of judicial interpretations. It does not 
deal with questions of fact which have been discretionarily 
adjudicated by the judges of the lower Courts ; it only examines 
the legality of the decisions submitted to it for revision, that is 
to say, it judges the judgement and not the case. And if it holds 
that there has been a departure from legal principle or procedure 
it may set aside the offending decision and, without substituting 
its own decree, refer the parties to another Court of equal jurisdic- 
tion for a retrial. 

I should state that the judges composing all the different 
ordinary jurisdictions, — Civil Tribunals, Courts of Appeal and 
Court of Cassation, — receive a special education. All are 
officials of the Government who, in order to be appointed to the 
Judiciary, must, over and above the academic diploma acquired 
in the Faculty of Law, pass through a period of probation and 
ultimately a special examination as a test of judicial capacity. 

Moreover, the Judges always sit in benches formed of an 
odd number of members ; 3 in the Civil Tribunal, 5 in the Court 
of Appeal, 9 in each Chamber of the Court of Cassation. In fact, 
we are very partial to this bench system ; and the efforts made 
from time to time to introduce the system of trials by single 
judges, so highly appreciated in other countries, always fail in 
France. For, we consider that the plurality of judges by itself 
affords a guarantee of experience, independance and impartiality. 

Now that you know our different Courts and their composi- 
tion, it is easy for me to communicate to you the duties and 
privileges of the lawyers. 

If w ? e leave out the Court of Cassation which, by reason of 
its high and special function obeys particular rules, and has a 
special class of .advocates who are at the same time solicitors, 
we can say that all our lawyers have the privilege to plead 
before all the Courts of first and second instance. Enrolment 
to the Bar of any city of France entitles a Lawyer to plead before 
all the Tribunals in France. Moreover, there are no superior 
or inferior classes of advocates. Under the black robe, all Law- 
yers carry uniformly the same rights before the Law and the 



April , 1924] 


THE JURIDICAL EIFE IN FRANCE 


45 


same privileges in the Bar. Only talent and quality of work 
bring to them elevation in office aud professional renown ; and 
here, indeed, is the extent of their privilege apparent, for in what 
other sphere of our life, can one fly higher on the wings of Fame 
than in that of the Law ? 

Certainly there are in France Professors of the Faculty of 
Law whose names are imperishable; the students whom they 
have trained, the learned and important books which they have 
published, remain for evet as the permanent testimony of their 
zeal and genius. May 1 cite in this connection the names of 
Anbry and Rau, Saleilles, Planin'], Colin and Capitant, Geny 
and Demogue, in the Civil Law ; Laiue, Pillet, Weiss and Bartin 
in Private International Law ; Thaller, Lyon-Caen, Wahl, 
Percerou and Ripert, in Commercial Law ; Renault, de Lapra- 
delle, Duguit, Hauriou and Berthelemy in Public Law; 
Garsonnet, Glasson and Tissier in the Civil Procedure; Garcon 
and Le Poittevin in Criminal Law ; Souchon, Gide, Truchv and 
Perreau in Political Economy ; Girard, Cup and Collinet in 
Roman Law ; Esmein and Chenon in the History of Law ? 

Certainly there are also Judges whose integrity, honour and 
civic virtues are put forward as examples and whose authorita- 
tiveness is attested by their judicious, learned and equitable 
decisions ; decisions which are embodied in our important law- 
reports. For, Case-law constitutes to-day, even in France, a 
veritable source of Legislation, always in the process of renewal. 
In fact Case-law fills up the gaps in our old Codes and incessantly 
resolves new questions arising out of the transformation of 
economic and social needs ; and that to such an extent that the 
Lawyers measure their prestige in the Courts by the number of 
cases which have been decided in their favour; the more such 
previous decisions there are, the more certain are thejr of gaining 
their cause. 

But, the science of the Professor, the talent of the Judge, 
are only sources of a sober glory, radiating a perfume, which 
though penetrating is subdued and can rarely be felt by ordinary 
men. A lawyer, on the contrary, is easily crowned with public 
glory. His name is remembered and repeated with admiration, 
Berryer, Labori, Rousset, Busson, Billault, Cherm, Foursade 



46 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY t Vaisakh, 1331 


and so many otlirs. Now his advocacy, now and more often, his 
pleading in a criminal case which gives splendid scope for emo- 
tion and eloquence, will assure his reputation. Working by 
turn on the sentiment of pity and irony, sometimes aggressive 
and masterful, sometimes sweet and insinuating, some lawyers 
know how to use the French language as a perfect instrument, 
seductive as the voice of the Siren. And you remember how 
the French Academy counts always some lawyers amongst the 
immortal master-thinkers and master-speakers. Yesterday it 
was Barboux, to-day it is Barthou, Poincare, Henri Robert. 

Finally, taking one step further, and leaving the strict 
domain of Law for the neighbouring kingdom of Politics, the 
Lawyer frequently devotes himself in France to public affairs, 
to res publica. Accustomed to weigh the conflicts of private 
interest, he is tempted to grapple with the problems of general 
interest; from conducting litigation, he is predisposed to the 
conduct of the national affairs; from the defence of individual 
liberties, he is urged to the vindication of Freedom ; from the 
habit of applying the Law, he passes on to the function of making 
the Law; that is why, without going further than Gambetta and 
Thiens, by whom was laid the foundation of the political regime 
which governs France for the last 50 years, our politicians are 
largely recruited from Lawyers. 

And if, one day, crossing the vast ocean, you stop for a while 
under the sky of sweet France, in Paris, and if you pass the 
portals of the Palais of Justice, the silhouette of which, evoking 
the memory of the Middle Ages and crowned by the elegant 
towers of the S ante-Chap elle, has been reflected for centuries 
in the tranquil waters of the Seine, you can read, engraved on a 
marble slab, in the Bar Library, the names of Millerand and 
Poincare, Presidents of the French Republic and Lawyers at the 
Court of Appeal of Paris. 

Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, tell me, was I not justified in 
placing the Lawyer as a kind of Divinity in the very centre of 
the juridical life of France? 



SPIRITUAL VALUES IN SOCIAL SERVICE 


(From a Lecture delivered at the Calcutta Social Service 

Conference). 

By Bipin Chandra Pad. 

This conference has already dealt with primary education, 
popular education, adult education, commercial education, 
citizenship, untouchability, liquor and drug traffic, the protec- 
tion of lower animals, and the vital problems of sanitation and 
medical relief. At its next session will be discussed the im- 
portant subjects of juvenile ocenders, habitual criminals, 
vigilance and rescue work. 

All these are very important subjects, but the one question 
that arises in my mind is this : “Why should I spend my time 
in dealing with these matters ? What ought to be the inspira- 
tion of social service? What ought to be its ideal?’’ It may 
be that you want primary education for political purposes. It 
may b.e that you want educational reform for economic and 
industrial improvement. It may be that you want education in 
citizenship for the same political ends. You may want to 
remove untouchability out of pity for the condition of the so- 
called depressed classes. Yon may try to deal with the liqtior 
and drug traffic from the same missionary motive. But are 
these the highest motives wherewith to approach these questions ? 

That question always arises in me when I think of social 
service. If you ask me “Why are you interested in education, 
in politics, in economic improvement, or in social reform?” the 
answer, so far as I am concerned, will be this : “Because I 
consider that these things are essential for the purification and 
the uplift, in a word, for the salvation, of my own soul.” My 
social service is absolutely self-regarding from one point of view 
and, from another, its fundamental basis must be the recognition 
of the principle of what is now called the “Solidarity of Man.” 

You cannot attain your own selfish purposes — however 
narrow your vision, however self-regarding your activities, you 
cannot possibly attain even these limited interests — without 



48 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


taking care for the similar attainment of the similar personal 
interests of your neighbours. You cannot yourself be healthy 
and have strength and attain longevity by simply trying to keep 
your own home free from insanitary conditions, because if your 
neighbour’s home allows the germs of disease to grow, they will 
attack your own home also, however much you may try to keep it 
clean and sanitary. 

If you are educated — whether intellectually or spiritually — 
you cannot really satisfy your own intellectual or spiritual 
cravings unless those amongst whom you live are equally 
educated. Interchange of thought is an essential condition of 
intellectual self-realization, and unless you have about you men 
and women who are as thoughtful and reasonable as yourself, 
your intellectual life will be a failure. Water cannot rise above 
its own level, and the individual, whether physically or intellec- 
tually or morally, can never rise above the general level of the 
community or the society to which he belongs. This is the 
fundamental basis of social service. 

Your own well-being — I do not ask you to go farther than 
your own self-interest — depends upon the well-being of your 
neighbours ; your family’s well-being depends upon the 
well-being of the community to which you and your family 
belong ; and your communal well-being entirely depends upon the 
well-being of the nation, consisting of many communities, of 
which your community is only one of the limbs or organs. The 
solidarity of man, or the organic conception of social life and 
relations, must conform to the fundamental basis of social service. 
This is the first thing to which I should like to invite your 
attention. 

But this is not all. There are higher reaches of social 
idealism ; there are higher aspects of social service. To you 
and me and those who believe in the soul, who believe that God 
made man in His own image and out of His own substance, as 
the Christian Bible says, and as the Koran also says I think, — 
and our own scriptures say the same thing, — man is God in the 
making. That is the fundamental truth of all religions. 

Man is God in the making ; you hav.e the spirit of God in you, 
and the fulfilment of the highest object of your life lies in the 



April, 1924 ] SPIRITUAL VALUES IN SOCIAL SERVICE 


40 


development of the latest divinity that is in you; and not only 
in you, for you cannot develop the divinity in yourself unless you 
develop the same divinity that is in your brother Man and your 
sister Woman, Without this you cannot realise God, — and 
every religion says this is the plinth and the foundation, the sum 
and substance, of spiritual life, viz. : realization of God. 

Perpetual God consciousness is the universally accepted 
ideal of the highest religious and deepest spiritual life. But how 
can you live in a perpetual consciousness of God unless those who 
ar.e about you constantly quicken your consciousness of God by 
their own conduct end their own life and character? Therefore, 
if you want to make visible the invisible Spirit, if you want to 
realise the God whom you worship, the. only way to do it properly, 
correctly, really, — and not merely imagina r ily, — is to develop 
the divinity in every man and every woman. 

Therefore I want education, because the want of education 
obstructs the vision of my brother Man ; I want the improvement 
of sanitary conditions because the diseased man, weak in body, 
suffering from various ailments, does not bring to me the beauty 
and the grandeur of my Lord. T want the man beautiful, I 
want the woman beautiful, I want the child beautiful, because 
the man beautiful, the woman beautiful and the child beautiful 
reveals to my eyes the eternal beauty of the All Beautiful. 

I want enlightened men, enlightened women and even 
children beaming with the light of God, opening like the petals 
of a flower. I want intellectual illumination, because, unless 
those who are about me are intellectually illumined, I cannot 
realise the eternally illumined Lord in my social surroundings, 
in the man and the woman about me. 

I want men and women to be pure, and by purity I under- 
stand that men and women should be established upon their own 
Being. That thing is pure which exists in its own nature, in its 
eternal and real nature ; and when men and women exist in their 
own eternal and real nature, which is their spiritual nature, I see 
in them my God ; and that is why, as a help to the worship of my 
God, I desire this social service. 

It is in the revelation of God in humanity that you can serve 



50 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 

your God. You call God your Father. But that has no meaning 
unless you realise the ideal of the relation between the son and 
father in your own life. You call God your friend, but it has no 
meaning unless you realise in your own social relations the purest 
of friendships. You call God your Lord and Master ; and by all 
the endearing names. But these names have no meaning unless 
you realise the Spiritual in and through all family and social 
relations. 

The spiritual value of social service consists, first, in the 
realisation by the social worker, every moment of his life, in 
every case that he applies himself to for the uplift of his brother 
Man, of the fact and the principle and the truth of the solidarity 
of man. And next, the spiritual value of social service consists 
in the perpetual realization by the social workers of the presence 
of the Lord, in the fallen woman, in the vicious, in the criminal, 
in the unillumined, in the ignorant and even in the poorest of 
the poor. 

When you realise God, when you realise in your innermost 
soul that through the service of the afflicted you will serve your 
God, } 7 our service is lifted to the spiritual plane. When you 
serve those who are depressed, when you seek to minister to 
their wants, not in the spirit of the ordinary missionary or of the 
philanthropist, not in the spirit of those who come down from 
a higher pedestal to raise those who are standing on a lower level, 
but in the spirit of real and devout worship, — when you serve 
those who are submerged and down-trodden in that spirit, when 
you realise in the depressed classes the presence of your God, 
it is then that you will be able to render them true spiritual 
service. 

And so there is a great danger in social Service, — the danger 
of forgetting the ultimate aim, forgetting the spiritual aspect 
of it ; the great danger of losing sight of the object in our atten- 
tion to the details of the organisation ; the great danger of 
ignoring the organism itself in our eagerness to serve the 
different organs; and, with a view to fight these dangers, it is 
essential that you should keep this spiritual ideal prominently 
before you and judge every department of social work by its 
spiritual value. 



April, 1924] 


A POEM BY RABINDRANATH 


5 * 


rv F LOVED THIS WORLD. 

( From the original of Rabindranath), 

I’ve loved this world’s face splendour-girt 
With all my heart. 

And I have wound. 

In fold on fold, 

My life around it and around; 

The gloom of dusks, the gold 
Of countless dawns across my soul have rolled, 
And sped and passed; 

At last 

My life to-day is one 

With earth and sea and sky, and moon and sun. 

Thus life hath won my heart, 

For I have loved this world’s face splendour-girt. 



52 


THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


And yet I know that I shall have to die. 

One day my eye 

No more the light of day will drink; 

In the abyss of void my voice will drop and sink; 

My soul no more will fly 
To greet the morning’s flaming light; 

No more will night 

Her secrets whisper in my ears; 

I’ll take my Anal look on earth and tell 
My last farewell, 

When Death appears. 

As true 

Is passion’s yearning cry, 

So too, 

This bleeding parting when we die 
And yet some inner harmony must bind the two; 

Or the universe, so long, 

Would not endure the fraud, the wrong, 

So grievous, base, 

With smiling face; 

And all its light 

Would wither like a worm-bit flower in blight. 


Translated by Kiimsn Ch. Sen. 



THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF VIKRAMASILA 

(From a lecture under the auspices of Patna University). 

By Prof. J. N. Samaddar. 

The University of Vikramasila is associated permanently 
with. th.e epithet Royal, as it was not only created by a king, but 
the titles on its scholars :>ere bestowed by kings, also. And if 
the University of Nalanda fulfilled the criterion of Newman that 
a University is a school of universal learning, implying the 
assemblage of strangers from all parts in one spot, this royal 
University of Vikramasila also satisfied that condition. And it 
also came under the definition of Carlj le of being a collection of 
books, for we know, both from internal and external evidence, 
that there was a big library, which along with all its other 
paraphernalia was destroyed by the Muhammadan invaders. 

The accounts relating to Vikramasila, however, are rather 
meagre. We have to depend for the details to a large extent 
on Taranath, the historian of Tibet(i). 

Our difficulty in tracing a fuller history of Vikramasila 
is intensified bj 7 the fact that Hieun Tsiang, the prince of 
Chinese travellers, has not given us any account of it, proving 
that the university had not come into existence, or at any rate, 
was not of sufficient importance to merit his visit. Neither 
does the other Chinese traveller, I-Tsing, to whom we are so 
much indebted for information regarding the curriculum of 
Nalanda, give us any account of Vikramasila, showing that the 
former was in his time still flourishing, while the latter was yet 
unknown. And the presumption that it had been revived and 
forsaken, or fallen into decay, before the advent of Hieun 
Tsiang (2) cannot at all hold good (3). 

(1) For the translation of some passages relating to Vikramasila, I am indebted 
to Sister Gertrude of the Patna convent. 

(2) /. B. T. S.. I. 

(3) “The inscription on the minor figures in Gupta Character of the third and 
fourth centuries show that the Viliar with its chief caves and pilasters had been 
established a considerable period before than time, probably at the beginning of the 
Christian era, or even earlier.” This is altogether an untenable theory. The fact 
that it was founded bv Dharmapalla who reigned in the ninth oenturv clearly 
demolishes it. 



54 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


Vikramasila began to rise after the downfall or decadence 
of Nalanda, and for a time there seems to have been intercourse 
between the two. Lama Taranath(i) remarks that the Professors 
of Vikramasila watched over the affairs of the Nalanda. Though 
it is difficult to surmise the exact meaning of this, it undoubtedly 
points to a connection, and further, in later times, we find that 
while Atisa was proceeding towards Tibet, his interpreter was 
staying at Nalanda(2). 

As in the case of Nalanda(3) in Vikramasila also, we find 
a tradition telling us about the origin of the university, or rather 
of the monastery which birth to the university. It is said to 
have been so named because a Yaksha called Vikrama was 
suppressed here(4). A Tibetan tradition also has it that 
Acharya Kampilya, a learned Professor of the School of Buddhist 
Tantras, who had attained to siddlii (perfection) in the 
Mahamudra mysticism, was once struck with the features of a 
bluff hill which stood out on the bank of the Ganges. Observing 
its peculiar fitness for the site of a Vihar, he remarked that under 
royal auspices it could be turned into a great place for the use of 
the Scimgha. By dint of foreknowledge he also knew that at 
one time on that hill a great Vihar would be built. In course 
of time Kampilya was born as Dharmapala the famous Buddhist 
king of Gauda, and remembering what he had been in his pre- 
\ious birth, he built the monastary and along with it the 
university. In view of the fact that the first donor was a king, 
Vikramasila was known as the Royal University. 

This may be a mere traditional story, but we cannot 
altogether ignore tradition. And, whatever may be the value of 
this particular story, it is an admitted fact that the foundations 
of the monastery were first laid by Dharmapala in the 9th 
century. Paramasaugata Parameshwara Paramabhattaraka 
Maharajadhiraja Dharmapala is mentioned in the Khdlimpur 
Prasasti, the date of which has been fixed at 910 A.D. It was 
under his auspices that one hundred and eight Professors taught 


(1) German edition, P. 218. 

(2) Indian Pandits in the Land of Snow . 

(3) Vide Beal or Walters. 

(4) /. B. T. S. t Vol. I. ion. 



April, 1924 ] 1 HE ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF VIKRAMASILA 


55 


in V ikramasila( 1) . In addition to these there were also Acharyas 
for offering wood and fire and for ordination, as well as three 
superintendents. 

For four centuries the University of Vikramasila pursued a 
successful career, being managed, under royal patronage, by a 
board of six members presided over by the high priest. To its 
distinguished alumni( 2 ) it granted the diploma of Pandit, which 
was conferred by the reigning king. 

Among these Pandits may be mentioned Ratna Vajra, an 
inhabitant of Kashmir, who was appointed Gate Keeper, a post 
of distinction. Similarly Acharya. Jetari received his diploma 
from king Mahipala and could boast of Dwipankara (Atisa) 
as his pupil. One of the others, Ratna Kirti, a Professor at the 
university, should also be mentioned along with Jnana-sri Mitra, 
who was indeed a great pillar of the Vikramasila University. 
Atisa or Dwipankara himself was indebted to him. Jnana-sri 
Mitra was also Gate-keeper and was appointed the head of the 
University when Atisa left for Tibet. We may also mention 
the name of Ratn&kara Santi, who was ordained in the order of 
the Sarvdstivdda School of Odantapuri of which we shall speak 
later on, and who learnt the Sutras at Vikramasila from Jetari, 
Ratnakara Kirti and others. Ratnakara was also made Gate- 
keeper after which, at the invitation of the king of Ceylon, he 
visited that island where he gave an impetus to the Buddhist 
doctrine(3) . 

Nalanda had one gate only, through which all aspirants 
after university education had to pass, but Vikramasila had six 
gates, over which there were six Gate-keepers or Dvdra Panditas, 
who guarded, as it were, the destinies of the university. 
According to Taranath there was Prajnakaramati at the Southern 
Gate, Ratnakara Santi guarded the Eastern gate, Vagisvara 
Kirti watched over the destinies of the Western gate, Naropa 
ruled at the Northern gate, Ratna Vajra was in charge of the 

(1) /. B. r. s., 1., pt. i., p. n. 

(2) S. C. Vidyabusan's Logic, p. 79. It is not known what title the University 
of Nalanda conferred on the distinguished students, Vidyabhusan suggests that 
that' University also recognised the title of Pandit. 

(3) S. C. Vidyabhusan *vS Logic t P. 34a* 


56 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


first central gate and Jnana-sri Mitra tested students at the 
second central gate. 

Vikramasila improved considerably upon Nalanda regarding 
academic organisation, but it was unable to achieve the wide 
range of influence, nor had it the vast numerical strength, of 
the latter university. For this, of course, the state of the times 
was more or less responsible, as the whole country was then 
suffering from disruption. 

King Dharmapala, its founder, furnished Vikramasila with 
four establishments, each consisting of 27 monks belonging to 
the four principal sects. He also endowed it with rich grants, 
fixing regular allowances for the maintenance of the priests and 
students. Besides, there were establishments for temporary 
residents(i). 

As in the case of Nalanda, other kings after Dharmapala 
made additions to this university. There was a central hall, 
called the house of science. It had six gates which opened on 
six colleges which had one hundred and eight professors. There 
was also a large open space which could hold an assembly of 
8000 persons(2). Each college was under the guidance of a 
Dwara Pandita, the Gate-keeper, of which post we have made 
mention before. 

Just as at Nalanda, students desirous of entering the 
university had to subject themselves to a severe test examination, 
so here also no one could enter the precincts of this seat of 
learning without defeating the Dwara Pandita in controversial 
disquisition. The two Pandits who taught theology in the 
central college were called the first and second pillars of the 
University. 

For the support of the resident pupils of the colleges within 
the monastery, were satras (hostels) where scholars were enter- 
tained free and were given their necessaries. They were 
endowed, as we find in the case of Nalanda, by the princes and 
nobles of the country. That this sort of endowment continued 
from the beginning till the end of the university is proved by 

( 1 ) J. B. T. S.. 1 - 10 . 

(2) “The quadrangle evidently was a large Buddhist Monastery or Vihar such 
as one time existed at Sarnatb, Sanchi, Buddha Gaya and other places of note” — 

Dr. Rajendralal Mitra. 



April , 1924] THE royal university oe vikramasila 


57 


the fact that as late as the tenth century a satra was added to the 
Vihar by on_e of the sons of king Sanatan , of Varendra, better 
known by his name of j etari , 

Like Nalanda, again, the whole university was surrounded 
by a wall. On its front wall, to the right of the principal 
entrance, was painted the likeness of Nagarjuna, and to the left 
the protrait of Atisa himself. We also find the existence of a 
Dharmasala on the gate outside the wall, where strangers, 
arriving after closing time, were given shelter. 

The whole establishment must have been a magnificent one 
and it was, evidently, so nicely adapted to its purpose, both as a 
religious and an educational institution, that the Tibetans took 
it as a model for one of their own monasteries. 

The courses of study in Vikramasila were, perhaps, less 
comprehensive than those at Nalanda. The most important 
branch of learning taught here seems to have be.en the Tantras. 
Vikramasila flourished in the days of Tantrikism, when occult 
sciences and magic had become the favorite subjects of study. 
In fact, from the 5th century, Buddhism had assumed a new 
phase, and was already converted into Tantrikism, which 
developed further between the eight and tenth centuries of the 
Christian era. 

As Dr. Kern, the great authority on Buddhism, has rightly 
observed (1) “The doctrine of Buddhism in India, from the 
eighth century downwards, nearly coincides with the growing 
influence of Tantrikism and sorcery which stand to each other 
in the relation of theory to practice”. The development of 
Tantrikism is a feature that Buddhism and Hinduism have in 
common, the idolatrous cult, of “female energies” being grafted 
upon the theistic system of Mahayana and the pantheistic 
mysticism of Yoga(2). 

There was in the monastery a class of Tantrikas known as 
Kimsukhas who brought much trouble on Atisa. Two instances 
are referred to in The Journal of the Buddhist Text Society( 3) — 
the one of Maitri (a Kimsukha) who was charged with certain 

(1) Kern's Buddhism , P. 133. 

(2) N. N. Vasu Modern Buddhism . 

(3) Vol. I. 




58 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


irregularities in matters connected with doctrinal, ritual and 
other collateral matters on account of which a condemnatory 
remark was written on the wall at the entrance of the Vihar by a 
monk called Sauti ; and the other, of wine being detected in the 
possession of one of the monks, which he kept secretly in his 
room and which he alleged he had brought for presenting to a 
Buddhist nun whom he intended to consult on certain matters, 
showing how the religion of Gautama Buddha had deteriorated 
in the hands of his later followers. 

Next to the Tantras, there were studied Grammar, 
Metaphysics and Logic. This last subject, which was studied 
assiduously and extensively at the Nalanda university, was also 
cultivated here, and some of the greatest scholars at Vikramasila 
distinguished themselves in this subject. The fact that there 
were six eminent logicians acting as Diva r a Pandilas (Gate- 
keepers) go to prove that Logic was a popular subject(i). 

Here also, as at Nalanda, the teachers and students occupied 
themselves with copying manuscripts, and in the British 
Museum there is a beautiful copy of the Ashta Sdhasrikd 
Prajndpdramita the colophon of which mentions the fact of its 
being copied in the reign of Paramesvara Paramabhaidraka 
Paramasaugata M aha raj ddhi raj a Srimad Gopaladeva, who, 
according to Dr. Barnett was the second Gopaladeva (2). 

Sarat Chandra Das in his Indian Pandiis in the Land of 
Snow, a book which is unfortunately becoming rare, though 
published only thirty years ago, has given us a graphic descrip- 
tion of a religious assembly at Vikramasila(3). The description 
is by the Tibetan who was sent there to take Atisa back with 
him for the revival of Buddhism in Tibet : 

In the morning at 8 o’clock, when the monks congregated together, 
being conducted by the Sthavira, I was given a seat in the ranks of the 
learners. Then first of all the venerable Vkfya Kokila came to preside 
over the assembly. His apprearance was noble and majestic. He sat 
exalted and steady like the Sumeru mountain. I asked those near me, 
if he was not Lord Atisa. “What do you say, oh Tibetan ayusmat ? This 


(1) S. C. Vidyabhtisan’s Logic. 

(2) /. R. A. S., 1910. P. 151. 

(3' Corresponding to the modem Convocation. 




April, i 9 24\ THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF VIKRAMASILA 


59 


is the very revered Lama Vidya Kokila, who being a lineal disciple of 
Acharya Chanda Kirti has became a saintly sage. Do not you know 
that he was the teacher of Jovo Atisii?” Then again pointing to another 
Acharya who was seated at the head of a row I enquired if he was not 
Atisa? I was told that was the venerable Narapanta, who for his scholar- 
ship in the sacred literature has no equal among the Buddhists. He ton 
was Atisa’s tutor. 

At this time, when my eyes were roving to find out Atisa, the Raja 
of Vikramasila came and took an exalted seat, but none of the monks, old 
or young, rose from knew seals to mark his arrival . Then another 
Pandit came, in a grave and solemn mood, moving slowly. Many young 
dy urinals rose from their seats to receive him will: offerings of incense. 
The Raja also rose from Iris seat to do him honour. On the Raja’s rising 
up, the monks and the Pandits also got up from their seats respectively. 
The Lama was seated on a reserved seat. Thinking that, as so much 
honour was shown to the Lama, he must be some royal monk, or some 
venerable slhavira, or Atisa himself, I wished to know w'ho he was. I was 
told that lie was Vfr Vajra, a stranger whose residence was not known to 
them. When I interrogated them as to how learned he was, they said 
that they were not aware of the extent oi his attainments. 

When all the rows of seats were filled up, there came Jovo Atisa, the 
Venerable of venerables, in all his glory at whose sight the eyes felt no 
satiety. His graceful appearance and smiling face struck every one of the 
assembly. Prom his w 7 aist hung down a bundle of keys. The Indians, 
Nepalese and Tibetans all looked at him and everyone of them took him 
for a countryman of their own. There W’as brightness mixed with 
simplicity of expression in his face which acted as a magic spell upon 
those w 7 ho beheld him. 

Such was Atisa who was taken to Tibet by the envoy of the 
Tibetan king to bring about the renascence of Buddhism in that 
country. It was this Atisa who revived the practise of the 
Mahayana doctrine. “He c 1 eared the Buddhism of Tibet of its 
foreign and heretic elements which had completely tarnished it 
and restored it to its former purity and splendoui. Under his 
guidance the Lamas of Tibet discovered what is called the real 
and pure path of the exalted excellence’ (i). 

(1) Indian Pandits in the land of Snow, P. 76. 



6o 


THE VISVA-BHARAT 1 QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


It is interesting to note that neither Atisa, nor his activities 
in Tibet, are mythical. Modern research proves my assertion(i). 
The Archaeological Survey Report s says : 

The times of Atisa have become known through Das’s Indian Pandits 
in the land of snow. But up to the present it has been found impossible 
to decide whether the persons mentioned in connection with Atisa 
actually lived for n.ot. In the course of our tour we discovered several 
inscriptions of those times at Poo, in Spiti and Ladakh. On one of the 
walls of Tabo monastery of Spiti, we discovered an inscription of the 
days of king Byang-chub-od of Guge, the very ruler who invited Atisa to 
Tibet. The principal hall of Tabo monastery called Nam-par-snang- 
mdzad, seems to have remained unchanged since the days of Atisa(2). 

The writer also mentions an inscription which contains the 
names of the two most important Lamas of the periods viz. : Rin- 
chen bzng-po and Atisa, the latter being called Plml-byung, 
which is his Tibetan name. The inscription says that Rin-chen 
was made a “light of wisdom” through the agency of Atisa. 
This apparently is a reference to the controversy between the two 
I ^a mas which ended with Rin-chen’s acknowledging Atisa’s 
superiority. 

Such was the head of the Vikramasila university, with its 
numerous alumni. But such are the ravages of time that not 
only have its glories almost totally vanished, but it is even 
difficult to identify the site now. Cunningham suggested the 
village of Silao near Borgaon(3). This is out of the question 
as the Ganges could not have been anywhere near it. Then 
there was the suggestion of Pandit Satish Chandra Vidyabhtfsana 
who tried to indentify it with Sultanganj in Bliagalpore. The 
hill there, however, is a very small one, too small to have a 
monastery with six gates and a quadrangle or open space which 
could hold an assembly of 8000 men, together with the large 
number of temples and colleges it contained. This identifica- 
tion, therefore, is anything but satisfactory. The Tibetan 
chronicles mention clearly that the monastery was situated on a 

(t) Historial Documents from the borders of Tibet A. S. R. 1909-K 

(2) Vide aliso the Foreward to Rambles in Bihar. 

(3) A. S. R. s 1. 



At>ril, 1924] THE ROYAE UNIVERSITY OF VIKRAMASIRA 61 

bluff hill on the right bank of the river Ganges. The best 
identification appears to be that by Mr. Nundo Lai De who 
locates it at Pathargfiata, which site he describes as follows : 

A day’s sail below Sultanganj is situated a steep, projecting hill 
called Patharghata, a spur of Colgong, twenty-four miles to the cast of 
Champanagar, the ancient Champa, the capital of Anga. The rock pro- 
jections at Patharghata and Colgong form a beautiful curve on the right 
bank of the Ganges flanked by an amphitheatre of hills, which greatly 
enhances the picturesqueness of the landscape and heightens its beauty. 
The river Ganges, the general course of which from Bhagalpore to the 
ocean is nearly due East, flows northward from Colgong to Patharghata 
and takes a singular turn round the Patharghat hill, some of the rocks of 
which project in a promontory into the river, and this projecting portion 
with a large part of the hill beyond, is properly called Patharghata(i). 

This site, suggested by Mr. De, is the most likely one, 
being situated on a bluff hill, as the Tibetan chronicles say, on 
the right bank of the Ganges, which further has sufficient space 
for a congregation of 8000 with many temples and buildings. 
The monastery was destroyed by Musulmau invaders, a point 
which we will take up after referring to another university, 
namely that of Odantapuri, which also shared the same fate as 
that of Vikramasila. 

S. C. Das(2) expresses the opinion that on account of the 
foundation of a city in the neighbourhood of Nalanda, which 
became the capital of Magadha under the Pala kings, and also 
owing to the great eminence to which the monastery itself arose, 
the entire province came to be known by the name of Vihar 
(monastery) and the older name of Magadha was gradually 
forgotten. This seems to be a mere guess which the author does 
not support by any reference. 

Neither does the late Dr. V. A. Smithy) cite any authority 
for his statement that Gopala(4), the first king of the Pala 

(1) j. a. s. B., Vol. V., No. 1, p. 7. 

(2) Iiindusthan Review , 190 6, P. 190. 

(3) Early History of India. 

(4) Taranatb on the contrary says, “Gopala, ruling in the beginning of his life 
in Bengal, founded in the neighbourhood of Odantapura the Vihar of Nalanda and 
after he had instituted in both countries many schools of the clergy, he made great 
sacrifice to the I v aw”. (p.158). This would imply that Nalanda came after Odanda- 
pnri, which was not the fact. Taraiiath in another place (p. 193) observes : “At 
the time of king Gopala and Devapala, Odantapura Vihar was erected/ * 



62 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


dynasty, founded a great monastery at Uddandapura, or Odanta- 
pura, as it is sometimes called, this being at any rate the ancient 
name of the modern town of Bihar. This name has also been 
used by Taranath. The Mahomedan historian, Abu Umar 
Minhaz-uddin ‘Usman ibn Siraj-uddin of Juzani, better known 
as Miuhaz, on whom we have to depend for facts relating 
to the history of northern India of this period, mentions the 
place as Adwand Bihar. 

We have not much palaeographic evidence about Odauta- 
pura, either. There is, however, an inscription made in the 
second regnal year of king Surapaladeva, of the Pala dynasty, 
in which we note the flourishing condition of the Odantapura 
Vihar. And we have also a second inscription, referring thereto, 
both having been discovered in 1891, and both being now in 
Calcutta Museum(i). 

According to the Mahomedan historian, Minhaz, Magadha 
was invaded' by Muhammad, son of Bukhtiyar Khiliji, after the 
eightieth regnal year of Lakshman Sen. As the Lakshin an era 
runs from 1119, 1199 may thus be taken as the year of the 
destruction of the Buddhist places of learning in Bihar, — 
Nalanda, Odantapuri and Vikramasila, — whereby Indian 
Buddhism received a blow from which it has never been able to 
recover. A large part of the Buddhist population was forced to 
leave the country, while the rest thought it expedient to embrace 
Islam. 

Much is attempted to be made, to the discredit of Islam, out 
of this destruction of monks and monasteries. But two things 
have to be considered in this connexion. We learn from 
Taranath that both in Odantapuri and Vikramsila the Magadha 
king had erected fortresses and installed warriors therein, with 
whom the monks joined in fighting the invader. Further, as 
Sir P. C. Roy has pointed out, the Monasteries had degenerated 
into such hotbeds of corruption that the conquerors felt little 
compunction in putting the resisting immates to the sword(2). 

Moreover this kind of destructive barbarian irruption was 

(t) Cf. R. D. Banerjee’s History of Bengal , Vol. I., 198 and also Bangiya Sahitya 
Parisat Patrika, iv. 13 for an inscription where the name is mentioned. 

(z) The History of Hindu Chemistry, Vol. I. 


April, 1924] THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF VIKRAMASILA 


6 3 


neither suffered alone by India, nor did Islam itself escape its 
ravages. As Arnold obsev.es : “there is no event in the History 
of Islam that for terror and destruction can be compared to the 
Mongol conquest. Like an avalanche the hosts of Chingiz Khan 
swept over the cities of Muslim culture and civilisation leaving 
behind them bare deserts and shapeless ruins where before had 
stood the stateliest of cities girt about with gardens and fruitful 
corn land”(i). 

Just as Baghdad, the abode of learning, the seat of culture, 
the eye of the Saracenic world, was ruined for ever, so were 
Vikramsila and Odar.tapuri, the ceutres of Buddhistic culture. 
No.-, in spite of the suggestion of authorities like Kern and 
Waddel that Buddhism in India met with its death at the hands 
of these barbarian invaders, does their conquest seem to have 
been the only cause. 

Indian Buddhism, at that time, was no longer the Buddhism 
of Asoka, but had become Tantrikism, — more or less of demono- 
logy, — with but little of spiritual regenerating influence left in 
it. Ev.en in the time of Nagarjuna who, both by example and 
precept, taught that Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Tara and other 
deities, possessed the powers attributed to them by the 
Brahmanas, Buddhism was gradually leaning towards Orthodox 
Hinduism which was re-establishing itself. 

The Pala Kings were no doubt Buddhists, and a large 
number of learned men like Atisa flourished under their patro- 
nage. These scholars, however, though professedly belonging 
to the Tantra cult, in fact rose above it. Nevertheless they 
could not stop the downward course of Buddhism and of its 
votaries with whom emancipation had come to be sought more 
and more through enjoyment of the world. 

Another cause was that the Pala kings, though Buddhists, 
were neither aggressive nor powerful. In Dharmapala’s time, 
a big temple of Vishnu was established at Subbasthali and a 
lingam was set up at Budhgaya itself. At the time of the 
Mahomedan conquest the temple at Budhagaya had fallen into 
the hands of Snatakas and had lost all its wealth, though the 

(x) Arnold : The Preaching of Islam, p. 276. Cf. Ameer Ali, A Short History 
of the Saracens , p. 397 and 398. 



64 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh , 1331 


other monasteries were teeming with it, so much so, that 
Muhammad Ibn Bakhtyar did not think it even wortli while to 
attack it, showing that religious zeal had nothing to do either 
with his conquest, or with the destruction which followed. 

It is a curious fact that all these three Universities, — 
Nalanda, Vikramasila and Odantapuri, — were situated at a 
distance from the capital or capitals of Magadha. What was 
the reason, I venture to think that the true answer has been 
given by the great Rabindranath in his Tapovana : 

A most wonderful thing that we notice in India is, that here the 
forest, not the town, is the fountain-head of all its civilisation. 

Wherever, in India, its earliest and most wonderful manifestations 
are noticed, we find that men have not come into .such close contact as 
to be rolled or fused into a compact mass. There, trees and plants, rivers 
and lakes, had ample opportunity to live in close relationship with men. 

In these forests, though there was human society, there was enough 
of open space, of aloofness ; there was no jostling. Still, this aloofness 
did not produce inertness in the Indian mind ; rather it rendered it all the 
brighter. It is the forest that has nurtured the two great ancient ages of 
India, the Vedic and the Buddhistic. 

As did the Vedic Rishis, Lord Buddha also showered his teaching 
in many woods of India. The royal palace had no room for him, it is the 
forest that took him into its lap. The current of civilisation that flowed 
from its forests inundated the whole of India. 



IMPRESSIONS OF KATHIAWAR 

By L . K. Elmhirst. 

Few countries in the world offer to the student such a wealth 
of variety of scene, people, and custom as India. No geographi- 
cal boundaries can be set to these variations and the longer a man 
lives in touch with the village life of India the more ready he 
becomes to look upon each individual village as a little storehouse 
of human interest, as a museum of the past and as a unit which 
must be dealt with upon its own merits, — not lumped together 
with the others as the dwelling place of the “masses.’ * 

In one square mile, in one out of the wav corner of Bengal, 
exist three distinct types of village, each with its own language 
inside the home, each with its own social customs and historical 
tradition ; and so great is the variation, even between villagers of 
the same language and culture, that the wise student of village 
problems is rarely willing j o generalise at all, and the reformer 
is still more careful to remove the shoes of his panacea for all ills, 
before treading upon the holy ground of the Indian village com- 
munity. 

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of modern India is that the 
eyes and minds of these to whom will come the responsibility of 
governing their own country are hermetically closed to the facts 
of their own native land. The history and life of India are 
locked in her villages and her places of pilgrimage and each 
village is a volume in itself. Text-book and class-room form a 
prison out of which, even though his home be in a village, the 
Indian boy rarely escapes. And yet travel can be so easy in 
India, camping such a delight, the hospitality of the village so 
lavish, that undiscovered mines of treasure lie within the grasp 
of teacher and student who will break down the prison bars and 
wander forth to learn. 

It is hardly fair to attempt anything but a guide-book des- 
cription of life and scenes in Kathiawar after less than a month’s 
visit spent mostly in the train or the city. Yet each day opened 



66 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


up new vistas of the past, new problems needing careful handling 
in the future and new evidence worthy of scholarly research. 
Specially for one whose main taste lies in carrying on research 
into the causes of the break-down of rural life, and who is 
attempting to discover means of prevention, alleviation, or cure, 
the problems of Kathiawar are of compelling interest. 

From the moment of entering the narrow-gauge compart- 
ment at Viramgam, conversation with citizens, officials and 
peasants alike, always opened on the subject of the existing 
water shortage and of the insufficient rainfall of the last three 
years. After visiting some six states the impression that a 
country -wide famine had arisen, of a seriousness and frequency 
hitherto unknown, was vividly confirmed. 

It is now forty-three years since the railway was laid down 
in Kathiawar. During that time it has paid to cut down and 
carry off the existing timber, whilst little attempt has been made 
to conserve or to replant the age-old forests. Whether the 
existence of large areas of forest actual!}' affects the condensa- 
tion of atmospheric moisture (and thus the supply of rain 
measured in inches) has not yet been fully proved. But 
that forest has a tw r o-fold influence upon the water supply of the 
area it covers is not in doubt at all. At the same time as it 
prevents direct evaporation from the soil by forming a barrier 
against the sun’s rays and acting as a cooling layer to the surface 
of the earth, it holds in place the water that has already fallen 
and, by adding an annual layer of organic material to the poorest 
and rockiest soil surface, it enriches the soil for further produc- 
tion. 

Once the trees are gone and the goats and cattle have free 
range, the sun’s rays fall direct upon the soil, and the cooling 
lay.er of forest growth gives place to an oven-like atmosphere. 
Moisture is extracted from the surface soil to a depth which 
interferes seriously with the water supply in shallow wells and, 
worse still, when the rain does fall it is no longer held by the 
trees, the leaves, the roots and the organic material, but rushes 
away carrying the best part of the soil with it, leaving only a 
barren waste which is good for neither man nor beast and almost 
impossible to reclaim. 



April, 1924] 


IMPRESSIONS OF KATHIAWAR 


67 


With careful felling and timber removal and with strict 
enforcement of rules forbidding grazing over newly felled areas, 
Indian forest can recover with little extra exenditure ; but, except 
for a few areas in Junagrah, in Nawanagar, and in Baroda 
territory, none of these precautions have been taken. 

The states of Bhavnagar and Palitana are somewhat better 
off than the rest in the matter of soil fertility and trees grow more 
luxuriantly there than in the upland areas. These last men- 
tioned states seem to have suffered Jess than the rest from 
shortage of rainfall during the last iwenty years, but scarcity of 
water during the last six years has become a regular scourge 
instead of an occasional phenomenon in Rajkot, Limbdi, 
Wadhwan and the upland states, whilst the wholly deforested 
coast line state of Porbandar is in very serious difficulties. 

Parts of Nawanagar, where a definite policy of forest pre- 
servation has been adopted, are less affected. Junagarh, with 
much of its forest still intact has suffered hardly at all in the last 
lew 3'ears. Bhavnagar and Palitana are somewhat short of water 
this year but were not seriously affected last year. 

In the history of rural disintegration it is probably true that, 
before the coming of the industrial city with its feeder railroads, 
famines, though perhaps frequent, were less noticed. Forest in 
itself is something of an insurance and country people can adapt 
themselves to conditions of scarcity or suffer in silence. But 
the moment the city grows up in a poor-soil area such as Kathia- 
war it must grow at the expense of soil fertility and country folk 
in general, and thereupon the existence of famine is much more 
loudly registered by the city people who are cut off from their 
supplies of cheap food and cheap raw materials for their factories. 

The destruction of forest immediately cuts down the popula- 
tion of graziers and herdsmen and increases the cost of milk and 
milk products for the city, just as the setting up of a factory 
industry in the citv, though of immediate benefit to the state 
revenue, tends to disturb the farming industry in the fields and 
to send up the price of labour. Here must arise the question 
as to the advisability of the States stimulating and fostering 
industries rather than factory production in towns, and building 



68 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


up a sound and healthy rural life rather than the unsound and 
unhealthy conditions of the modern city. 

It is unusual, however, for the city business man or the 
State Revenue Department to realise that in the field of nature 
of farming, foresting and grazing, profits come slowly over a 
long period of years, in a cycle which may easily be upset by the 
sudden demand for rapid turnover and quick profits. 

The country-side can give sure and large returns over long 
periods, but money invested therein is in the nature of a long- 
time investment and profit depends upon a close and reverent 
co-operation with Nature. Desecration of her shrine never goes 
unpunished ; and though Kathiawar may repent in dust and 
ashes, of which there is likely to be plenty during the coming 
years, she will find it exceedingly difficult, and over large areas 
even impossible, to remedy her nast short-sightedness. 

There is a growing tendency, too, among rulers and city 
people to follow the disastrous policy of the West and to put 
implicit faith in the development of factory and city industry 
at the expense of the fanning and village tradition, — in the 
exploitation of law materials and minerals and in the rapid 
expansion of the country town . This the nature of the soil does 
not fully justify, and the resulting disintegration of th.e rural 
life is thus being hastened on. History shows that the profits 
of such an alteration of the balance, accrue not to the country, 
not to the village, nor even to the country town or the State 
capital, but to the better organised businesses and larger 
factories of Bombay and Ahmedabad. 

The State of Cutch is accused of being retrogressive, of 
leaving its gold unmined, its forts undeveloped and its country 
untouched by the railroad. But, for the farmer, the labourer and 
the herdsman, a silver rupee buys just twice as much of the 
necessities of life as for the population of Kathiawar across the 
border. Cutch has sacrificed the possibility of development (too 
often another word for exploitation) and of immediate profits for 
the sake of a stable life in her countryside, where the poorest 
may reap the benefit of their labour. 

Most serious of all the problems of Kathiawar is the gradual 
deterioration of live-stock that is following in the wake of rural 



April, 1924] IMPRESSIONS OF KATHIAWAR 69 

disintegration. No country can have a finer capital than that 
which lies invested in its livestock, and Kathiawar has good 
reason to be proud of her inheritance from the past in this respect. 
Upon her livestock depends that vigour and those manly quali- 
ties, as well as those gifts of artistic creation, for which Kathiawar 
has been so famous in the past. The dual-purpose Gir cow is 
as fine an animal as there is for milk and draught, and with a 
little scientific breeding it can give, as the experiment at 
Junagarh shows, as good results as the pure bred stock of the 
West. 

But good livestock is dependant upon a good supply of fodder 
and human care. Fodder is becoming conspicuous by its absence 
as the forests disappear, and as the merchants hold out large 
profits in the form of rupees to farmers who will devote their 
whole farm to cotton growing. Cheap labour and animal 
husbandry are being drawn off into the new mills, mines and 
factories. 

Hitherto there has been ample grazing, and these cows, 
with the help of two very fine breeds of buffalo, have served to 
supply the people with an abundance of good milk, of pure ghee 
and consequently of excellent health. It would be hard to find 
a healthier, stronger, hardier race than that of the Kathiawar 
herdsmen and shepherds, nor a more cultured and intelligent 
farmer peasantry. In addition there are two distinct types of 
goat, both kept for milk purposes, as well as a fine breed of sheep 
which gives woollen garments to the populace. Except in 
Palitana and Bliavnagar, very little attempt has been made to 
keep pure the original breed of Kathiawar horse, an animal that 
it would be hard to beat anywhere else in India. 

Unfortunately this vast source of living wealth, the finest 
wealth that any country can boast of, and the bedrock of all rural 
prosperity, is condemned, apparently for the first time in history, 
to start upon the same journey of deterioration as the ancient 
breeds over much of British India have already travelled where 
the forests and jungle have disappeared and have taken the old 
grazing grounds with them. Jowar stalks and cotton seed are 
never likely to provide the strength and vigour that the seasons 
of plentiful rainfall and unlimited grazing gave in past years. 



. 7 ° the VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 

In Bengal and Bihar, which once had their fine milking 
goats and cows, the destruction of the grazing and the failure 
to grow any compensating fodder crop, have completed this 
process of destruction and decay. Goats are kept for the 
purpose of manure, and no longer for milk ; sheep, not for 
their wool so much as for their manure ; and neither are truly 
economical. In few other places in India is it still possible to 
get such pure ghee or such good milk as in Kathiawar, or to 
find either so liberally supplied at the railway stations. 
Already, as one State after another opens its factories, its 
mills, or its quarries, the hardy yeoman and shepherd stock is 
finding its way to the towns where the increase in money 
wages attracts, but hardly compensates, for the rise in the price 
of living, and the attainment of crowded and unhealthy condi- 
tions. 

The good farmer lias a way of treating his live stock like 
members of his own family. In the coming year the villages 
of Kathiawar are likely to be filled with mourners as the 
cattle die, or are sold for the value of their hides and bones. 
This too the city will hardly understand. There will be 
famine relief, — let us hope plenty of it. At the same time, 
the showering of charity upon a rural population, as the 
Bengal Flood Relief showed, does not really meet the situation 
and inevitably tends to demoralise a people never before 
accustomed “to beg from any man”. No State in Kathiawar 
can afford to omit preventive schemes that may seem expensive 
at the moment, that will not perhaps give a return for a long 
period of years, but that will hold in them some sure remedy 
for rebuilding on a firm basis the economic life of the rural 
population . 

Both Bhavnagar and Palitana and especially the Baroda 
territory have interesting and well worth-while experiments in 
reforestation with Babul. There is plenty of room for these, and 
once the Babul is well established, it may be possible to go ahead 
with the more expensive establishment of permanent timber. 
Plots should be set apart straight away, and if no fence is 
possible, or if the expense is thought prohibitive, the strictest 



April, 1924] 


IMPRESSIONS OF KATHIAWAR 


7 1 


watch should be kept, and the severest law's passed against 
grazing goats on those areas. 

Each year for ten to fifteen years a new plot should be 
added, sown and fenced so as to establish a permanent rotation. 
The return, either in timber over a long period, or in firewood 
and bark over a shorter time, and in superior grazing once the 
tr.ees have grown beyond the harmful reach of a goat, is such, 
that, quite apart from the added value in conservation of soil 
wealth, the prevention of erosion and the possible improvement 
of rainfall, the experiment should easily pay its way . 

Every practicable step should be taken to see that the 
farmers and graziers are stimulated and assisted in their busi- 
ness. The granting of credit facilities to farmers, the initiation 
of different forms of co-operation or the training of the school 
children on a rural rather than on a city basis, — any one 
of these may be tried with advantage. Experiments in the 
feeding and breeding of stock, in the introduction of new crops, 
in the taking up of waste land and in the use of improved 
implements should be encouraged all through the countryside. 

In spite of the taunts of city friends at such an apparently 
wasteful expenditure of capital, Mr. Zala’s farm close to the city 
of Bhavnagar is a standing example of wdiat can b.e done with 
salt and waste land by the use of common and business acumen. 
Each year shows an increasing return upon capital invested six 
year ago, so that, in spite of the pioneer nature of the work, this 
farm is probably the finest experimental and demonstration farm 
in all Kathiawar. 

Mr. Zala’s father was forced by circumstances to take up 
land which no ordinary cultivator would have dared to touch, 
and which, like thousands of acres of similar laud in Kathiawar, 
is now left untilled to be slowly eroded and gullied until it is 
good for nothing. By careful bund construction, not only was 
the erosion stopped and the land levelled, but the best soil was 
rapidly collected and deposited on the farm from neighbouring 
aieas in the rainy season. With the help of the Western steel 
plough which cuts deeper, inverts the soil and buries the weeds 
and organic growth under the surface, the salt lands were in a few 
years turned into fertile, crop-producing fields. 



72 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


Soils vary in Kathiawar. A black cotton soil is most usual, 
but it would be well worth while trying to find out other profitable 
crops to replace the soil exhausting cotton, which is grown too 
extensively and too often to be healthy or safe for the future. It 
is well to remember that a crop giving the highest immediate 
return in rupees is not always the most profitable in the long run 
for the farmer or his live stock, or the soil. As is abundantly 
illustrated by the rapid erection of miils in Bombay and Ahmeda- 
bad, the construction of merchant palaces in those cities, and the 
too per cent, or even 200 per cent, profits in the cotton industry, 
the farmer only gets a very small percentage of the real worth 
of his cotton crop over a period of years. 

Cash is not always wealth to the farmer at all. Last 
year the farmers of Wadhan made good money on their cotton 
crop, but found, when the fodder famine fell upon them, that 
they could not convert that money into any form which would 
save their cattle from starvation and keep up the ample supply 
of milk which is the mainstay of their health. The farmer, in 
fact, except in his dealings with nature, is at the mercy of the 
market and the brain of the city man. It is here that the States 
should study his need and give him every support. 

Water shortage is going to be a serious problem for some 
years to come, and therefore, as in parts of Bengal where the old 
water-storage tanks have fallen into disrepair, recourse must be 
had to w r ell boring. In Nawauagar the government experi- 
mental farm is apparently entirely out of commission owing to 
lack of water, yet it is admitted that, over large areas, the 
farmer with a well can make and is making a fair living where 
his well-less neighbour is being starved out. Water at a moderate 
depth is plentiful and therefore justifies liberal State expendi- 
ture upon wells, in a State where there are not more than 2.5 
wells per square mile. 

It will not perhaps be out of place to mention here the 
experience of a recent visit to Sabarmatt, an experience which 
gives additional weight to the above conclusions. Contact with 
village life has opened up lines of experiment there which are 
destined to be of the greatest significance in the rebuilding of 
rural life in India, and to lend variety to a programme which has 



April, IQ24 ] 


IMPRESSIONS OF KATHIAWAR 


73 


sometimes Keen criticised as being not too well adapted to the 
sufferings and troubles of the farmer. 

If the apostles of Sabarmati are able to extend to the village 
their common-sense and profitable method of sanitation; their 
successful planting of babul; their scientific storage of cow 
manure, solid and liquid, in pucca pits with roof protection; 
their care and breeding of pure Gir cattle ; as well as the results 
of their many researches in the field of weaving, spinning, 
ginning, carding and dyeing, a new day is likely to dawn on 
their countryside. Their Babul sowings, properly fenced 
against goats p or the first year, have produced, not only fire- 
wood, bu f saleable limber within only three years of planting. 
Their working type of village latrine represents the maximum 
of profit in garden produce, with the minimum of danger from 
flies and disease. Not one of their schemes is costly, and few 
villages in India can afford to neglect them. 

To return to Kathiawar, nothing perhaps was so striking 
as the wealth of beauty and artistic creation which flourishes 
still in its villages and which seems to spring from the very soil 
itself, — a wealth of which the dwellers in the cities seem almost 
unaware. 

Cheap stamped patterns from abroad already tend to oust 
and destroy the bandni work for which Kathiawar is justly 
famous. Each dot in the intricate pattern must be wound and 
knotted by hand before the cloth is dyed, to obtain the desired 
effect. This is an industry which needs every .encouragement, 
for no machine-made product can ever compete with the fresh- 
ness and variety of the actual handmade article. Kathiawai 
embroidery, whether of dresses, of blankets, of wall and door 
coverings, or of table cloths, is such that no merchant or prince 
need ever go outside his State for the decoration of city, home 
or palace. The sense and love of colour visible in the bodices, 
the shawls with their unique stamped patterns, and the 
swinging skirts of the women, flashing in the sun from their 
bits of inserted glass, shows an artistic tradition of which any 
nation might be proud. 



74 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


In the Kathiawar country, no useful article is deprived of 
the privilege of serving as a thing of beauty as well. The 
farmer’s shoe has its shapely turn of toe and heel with an 
artistic brass insertion ; the four-legged wooden support on 
which swings the baby’s cloth hammock outside the cottage door, 
is carved with a pattern as significant as that on the wooden 
stand for the earthnware water-jars, or the wooden frame 
holding the family grindstone. What other place in India can 
beast of such brass-bound treasure-chests, or carved babul carts, 
built to last a hundred years ? 

Kathiawar is an inexhaustible mine of that artistic 
expression which, whether conscious or not, tends to make life 
fuller, happier and so much more liveable. Typical of their 
attitude is the determination and very successful effort of the 
founders of the orphanage in Jamnagar to introduce to the 
children the manufacture of beautiful articles, not no much 
because of their utility, as of their intrinsic artistic merit. Is it 
inevitable that this inspired creation should go the same way 
as the cottage industries and products of all those other countries 
which have turned from their rural life to the production and use 
of machine-made articles in the mass ? 

This is not intended as a tirade against the modern tendency 
in industry and city growth, but is rather a repetition of our 
one appeal, which the sight of such incomparable cities as 
Kathiawar can boast has only intensified, an appeal to build 
surely and soundly for the future upon a close co-operation of 
city and countryside, and to develope those industries which 
will stimulate and enrich the life of the countryside as well as 
that of the city, rather than ruthlessly break down the one in 
order to promote the temporary prosperity of the other. 

Kathiawar is blessed with cities each of which has a real 
individuality of its own, whether in its walls, its temples or its 
ancient palaces. What ocean port can compare with Porbandar 
for instance, with her incomparable sea front, her magnificent 
building stone, and her 

Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam ; 

There is Palitana, the city of shrines and dharamsalas, over- 
shadowed by its temple-crowned hill ; and Lfimbdi with its river 



April, 1924] 


IMPRESSIONS OF KATHIAWAR 


75 


bed and city lake. But it is unfair to draw distinctions, for 
each State and each Capital has its own peculiar and individual 
attraction. 

Apart from their care for domestic animals, the attitude of 
Kathiawar is marked by a certain chivalry towards wild animals 
and birds. In spite of their occasional ravages on the crops, 
brilliant peacocks innumerable stroll undisturbed through field 
and village. Where else in the world is there a sanctum for 
wild animals like the natural park which borders, at Bhavnagar, 
on the walls of the city itself. — a jungle of grass and babul trees, 
in area six square miles, where no goats or cows are pastured, 
and where no life is ever taken, — unfenced and open to the 
country on three sides yet affoiding such cover that in the cool 
of the evening the nilgai , the wild boar, the chinkar and the 
black-buck leave their thickets to stroll with the citizens of the 
neighbouring town in quiet and peace. 

Much of the old, much that was spontaneous and beautiful, 
with perhaps much that led to a somewhat more precarious 
existence, has gone with the changing times. The fine old 
vegetable dyes have gone and the aniline dyes from Europe have 
come to stay. Only here and there survive the paintings which 
once covered the walls of almost every house. Few are able to 
read the old Sanskrit manuscripts which can still be run to earth 
in city and village. 

But, at least, some of the old music survives in the villages 
and finds its way now and then into the cities too, not the 
classical singing and playing which, no longer finding royal 
support, scarcely keeps alive, but the music of the people, 
the Bhajan. This is truly a family entertainment. Father, 
mother, brothers, sisters-in-law and children, yes, and even 
grandmother too, combining, after the day’s toil is over, to form 
the merry party. 

T amburd and ektdrd open with a simple air, the leadei 
introduc.es the theme, seconds and thirds take it up, banya and 
tabid add their volume, and the chorus of manjird playeis joins 
in, every member not already busy with some other instrument 
striking his or her brazen discs together until the resonant bell- 



7 6 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


like sound of the pairs of ringing hands joins with the full voiced 
choir, drums, stringed instruments and kartdl all helping to 
raise the roof, or rather the stars, and to make the welkin ring. 

As verse follows verse the leader will hand over the 
tamburd, snatch a pair of manjirds himself, and whirling them 
round his head perform every kind of acrobatic feat in time to 
the general melody; or two men wfith feet interlocked will 
engage in a mock struggle never ceasing to clap their manjirds 
as the story progresses. One woman, motionless except for the 
gentle stir and swing of arms, will snap her manjirds together 
as it were dreaming in a world of her own, while another will 
perform lightning feats with arm and hand, untwining the cotton 
cords from her fingers and swinging her manjirds as the 
shepherds do their slings, yet always catching the two together 
oil the beat. 

For a time the whole family is transformed into an up- 
roarious company intent apparently upon producing the utmost 
volume of noise. Yet such is the wonderful combination of 
string, and bow, of tightened drum, of voice, of bell and of 
clashing cymbals that the outstanding effect produced is of some 
sudden transportation to a land beyond, where simple folk hav.e 
achieved their own Paradise and learnt how to extract the last 
essence of enjoyment from every-day existence. 

Impressions? No. For, as one speeds back to the realm 
of business, politics and newspapers, there arises the memory 
of some fairyland, some other world; of feasts of colour and 
sound and beauty ; of far horizons and jagged peaks ; of a beating 
surf and of those fairy boats that for centuries have sailed out 
of Arabia and Arabian Nights laden with pearls and dates and 
spices; but above all of friendship, of a quiet kindliness and of 
an abundant hospitality. 



EDUCATION AND RECONSTRUCTION 

A Review .* 

By Prof. Patrick Geddes. 

One of the most suggestive hooks that lately have come to my hand 
is V’. Branford’s “Science and Sanctity.* * It has truly helped us in our 
own cause, for its spirit is in harmony with the idea we are trying to 
develop in Visva-bharati. 

Our endeavour, as we have often declared, is to resist the encroachment 
of the Machine upon life’s own fruittul realm, of organised greed into the 
sanctuary of human relationship. And as we read on through the intro- 
duction of this book it gave us courage to realise that individuals in different 
parts of the world are already busy barricading with their thoughts and 
dreams the progress of this Monster of the dead soul. 

They are but few who genuinely believe in the spiritual meaning of 
existence ; the malignant power of a gluttonous polities and insensate 
money-making is overwhelming against them and therefore they constantly 
need mutual sympathy and support. This is why we are grateful to 
Professor Patrick Geddes for introducing to the readers of this journal the 
book which is the subject of the following review from his pen. 

Rabindranath Tagore. 


Only too painfully familiar is that prevalent Indian estimate 
of “the West” — one perhaps not without too much justification 
* — as hopelessly commercialised, mechanised and materialised, 
as imperialised, militarised, bureaucratised, and so on. Never 
have I had this view more clearly stated, yet also answered, 
than by the Indian students in Edinburgh who had played in our 
Masque of Learning. Said one of their two leading speakers : 
“It was very gratifying to us to feel our scenes of Indian history 
and culture appreciated by great western audiences!” “Yes’ , 
added the other, “and the European scenes were also very 

^Science and Sanctity by V. Branford, Williams and Norgatc, London, 1923. 



78 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 

interesting to us, since enabling us to realise more than we had 
ever done before, that here in the West you also have a tradition 
of culture, and are not so exclusively mechanical, military and 
monetary, as we had supposed”. 

Thus ‘‘the West” for most Indian writers and critics, is 
essentially represented by its Industrial Revolution of the last 
century and a half, through which we are plunging still ; 
America now leading, Britain second, and other countries 
following, India largely also — Bombay, for instance, repeating 
and accelerating the crude British developments of the past 
century; as well as Calcutta and the rest. 

Yet while America and Britain, and other Western countries 
likewise, will for a time go on furnishing awful examples to 
India, readily followed here as all over the Eastern world, it may 
also be that in this very West, while thus mis-leading others, 
we are also finding for ourselves the way through, out of, and 
beyond our Industrial Inferno, and to better things. 

Only the other day, in New York, the group of old friends 
and new, who were giving me a ‘‘send off” before sailing, asked 
me the invariable American question : to give them candidly my 
impressions of America. I answered candidly indeed : 

“I may desribe these in terms of your wonderful Museum of 
National History, unique in the world for its collection of giant 
reptiles of the secondary rocks — Dinosaurs without number, up 
to twenty feet high and eighty or a hundred long, the most for- 
midable mosters Nature has ever brought forth. Yet, about the 
same time, there was arising a new type of creature, with a new' 
mode of life, characterised by mothering their young, rather than 
by devouring each other ; but which were then so weak and small 
that they could but dive into their holes when the monsters 
came by. This is my impression of America again to-day. 
Monster Mechanosaurs, Mammonosaurs, Millionosaurs, seem to 
„ possess the land ; while you, the Americans of a new post- 
mechanical age, and no longer of the pecuniary culture, are 
small and insignificant among their huge feet, or prey to their 
huge jaws. Yet fear nothing. Soon now they will be, like the 
great reptiles, dead and fossilised, and you, like the mammals, 



April, 1924 ] 


EDUCATION AND RECONSTRUCTION 


79 


will have youi turn, and possess the earth which they tyiannise 
to-day. ’ ’ 

So far, then, by way of independent introduction towards 
appreciating this very remarkable new book of Victor Branford’s, 
the ripest utterance of that veteran sociologist, — forty years ago 
the writer’s pupil, since life-long friend and collaborator, and 
now surpassing him. For here is not only the best of pleas for 
sociology in general, since Herbert Spencer’s admirable little 
“Study of Sociology”, but also the clearest statement of that 
school of social thought which a few of us are seeking to form 
and spread here in the East as well as in the West. 

Particularly interesting should be this book in Santiniketan 
and Sriniketan, of all places in India; for here is the idealistic 
attitude so characteristic of the one, the practical reconstructive 
endeavour of the other. Their purpose of harmony is surely 
clear, from whichever end of the connecting road one looks : yet 
even those to whom it is clearest, will be helped by our author s 
presentment from his own standpoint. I 1 or, though remote 
from India has been his experience, the spirit of meditation in 
“the cloister”, and that of action in the village, the town, the 
city, are here organically united into one. And not simply as 
fact and act, but more deeply, as dream and deed, — in which the 
peasant not only works as of old, for the religious, the philo- 
sopher, the poet, but is also inspired bv each anew, and to a 
fresh reconstruction of his life, of which the green leaves again 
bear flower and fruit. 

Such vital reconstruction then, alike of place, of work, of 
people, is here presented, and more clearly than by any pre- 
vious writer, — since now definitely and coherently in terms of 
the higher sciences, those of life and mind, of society and morals. 
And all these raised to the ideals of life; as these have been 
discerned of old, and are again being discerned anew here in 
India by its Poet, turning to his new inspiration of education and 
of reconstruction ; yet also there in London, by its most practical 
and experienced of sociologists, who has risen beyond the lower 
sciences and their affairs, to the spiritual transformation of all 
these and towards a new and better order of society, a new 



8o 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


phase of human progress, post-mechanical, post-financial, post- 
imperial ; because vital and social, regional and civic. In short 
here is spiritual renewal, inspiring material reconstruction. 

In other words, the theme of this life-freshing book is the 
incipient Vital Revolution, in its deliverance from that ten- 
dency of the Mechanical Revolution, of which the great War 
was the nemesis. Th.e present after-war is thus seen as the 
arena of this conflict, in which the older system is still only too 
active, yet in which the newer is waxing not only determined, 
but clear, towards victory, and this not necessarily too far 
distant. 

Said a wise old pope in his ninetieth year of troubled times ; 
“I have seen three generations of men, and one thing I can tell 
you of them : they were each characterised by a very different 
manner of thinking.” This new manner of thinking, prepared 
in the generation past, for the generation now opening, is here 
in this book more definitely and coherently expressed than hereto- 
fore in the separate schools of religion or philosophy, of science 
art or literature — though all are now showing signs, and even 
giving worthy expressions of it. For here, for the first time so 
clearly, all these varied lines of progress are presented together. 

Recall the main history of the West. See the growth, 
development, and decline of Greek and Roman cultures, and 
next their barbarian overthrow, followed by Christian renewal, 
so that the Dark Ages flower into the Middle Ages. See, too, 
how these again give place to the Renaissance, with the Refor- 
mation and Counter-reformation : yet how all again decline. 
See next the Mechanical and Industrial Revolution, now in our 
time achieving its very climax of magnitude of war, disorder, 
and human deterioration. 

What next? In these pages we have a coherent present- 
ment, — and, as already said, the fullest and clearest so far, 
preliminary though it yet necessarily must be, — of the New Age ; 
that of the spiritual life, of love, truth and beauty, and thus 
religious, scientific and philosophical, and also creative in poetry 
and art. 



April, 1924] 


EDUCATION AND RECONSTRUCTION 


8t 


This many-sided incipient renewal is co-ordinating the 
higher sciences of life, the organic and social, and subordinating 
the physical sciences, hitherto dominant, yet now seen as blit of 
life’s environment, not life itself. Hence, as each age makes 
its own material embodiment, so may, even must and does, a 
fresh embodiment begin to appear anew, in the renewals even 
now manifest at many points in even - country, however un- 
discerned by its press and politicians of the old order as they 
essentially remain. 

For in this book of vision — and re-vision accordingly, in 
every sense — not only are many of the past and present move- 
ments of the world freshly interpreted, analysed and criticised, 
but a opening re-synthesis is more than foreshadowed, often 
even boldly and clearly outlined. Thus the dis-specialisms of 
the modern University and its schools are here presented anew,, 
as the potential conspecialisms of their opening future. Our 
author’s salient instance is that of the common-sense unity 
everywhere observable in our social surveys, around our doors, 
and of our village, our town, our region. Place, work and people 
are thus united, in such Regional and Civic Survey, into a living 
and social unity, instead of dismembered arts and dis-specialised 
sciences. 

Witness our dry “Geography” with its maps of places, a 
still drier “Political Economy” of fuile abstractions, — at their 
concretest a Mythology of the Market, — in which machine-gods 
and mammon-gods, in perpetual “Competition”, leave us next 
to that other deadest and falsest of all pseudo-sciences, that would- 
be “Anthropology” of national prides, based essentially on 
breadth and length measurements of whole pyramids of skulls. 
Yet here these three desiccated studies are shown as roused to 
life, as the three subsciences of a living sociology — of the place, 
the work, and the folk, in their living and working unity in 
every village and town. 

Next psychology is brought to bear upon these : but no 
longer that of its arid text-books, dissociated from real life. 
Here we watch the mind transforming our outward sense to 



82 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1 331 


outward imagery; and this taking form, not only with poet and 
painter, but even in the design of a better and more beautiful 
order for place, work and people themselves. 

Yet for this dream of a real Eutopia — which shall make the 
best of things here as we find them, and thus be no longer among 
th.e “mere Utopias” of dream — we need a corresponding intellec- 
tual renewal. In this, along with the revival of the imaginative 
life, comes the renewal of that of thought, extricating from all 
experiences their essential ideas, and thus arousing the Univer- 
sity anew, and towards its prime task, of bringing method and 
order and unity among all the multifarious and discordant 
specialisms of its past and present. 

Thus the modern University, with its studies as little better 
than an Encyclopaedia Alphabctica, — since but Analytica, and 
therefore Dis-specialistica , and so in practical result Chaotica, 
— is shown as capable of advance towards the Encyclopaedia 
Syntlictica which is and has been the ideal of philosophy in all 
lands and ages. 

What then is this method, what is this principle of renewal 
and unification, for knowledge, and for education ? No longer 
any one of the many abstractions on which historic systems of 
philosophy are based, but the conceptions of Life; and in its 
unitjr, Life organic and mental, social and moral. How this 
life-unity is worked out must be left to readers of this book to 
seek out for themselves ; but in this brief summary of its 
essential contents, one must not fail of its highest element, — 
that it expresses from title to conclusion, — nothing short of the 
renewal of religion. This indeed as in the spirit; and as the 
pervading essence, and creative unity, of life in evolution. 

The founder of Sociology, Auguste Comte, a hundred years 
ago, who to conventional readers — that is to say mis-readers — 
has been taken (mis-taken) for an inconoclast of religion, has no 
more characteristic saying than that “man is ever growing more 
religious.” And for this hard saying, as it seems in this age of 
dogmatic faiths attacked by critical science, the reader will not 
readily find better evidence than in this book. 



April, IQ24] EDUCATION AND RECONSTRUCTION 83 

Yet let us end as we began and even more clearly, by 
describing it as the completest of guide-books, hitherto, for the 
road between Santiniketan and Sr:niket<?n. That is between the 
first as a “cloister” of renewing thought of all kinds, — and in 
unifying endeavour towards what may well become one of the 
truest Universities of the opening future, — and the corres- 
ponding reconstructive endeavours, in pvhose widening work 
place after place shall renew to beauty, its work to happy pro- 
ductivity, and its folk towards their individual and social best. 
Bach place may thus more progressively “work” its folk, as its 
folk discern and learn more fully to work their place — in 
sympathy, and thus in polity, united as Btho-polity; and this 
with synthesis of science and experience, and thus healthful and 
productive synergy ; and all with visioned clearness towards 
true and beautiful achievement, that of reconstruction, alike of 
the world without and the world within. 

In conclusion then, since the recent writer is privileged to 
help with the planning of Visva-bharati, the new University, he 
ventures to invite all interested in contributing their part — be 
this great or small — to its life and efficiency, to read this book, 
difficult, since strange, as it may at first seem, and see if it be 
not, on one side, a vital contribution to education, that of self as 
well as of others; and also if it be not, so far, the clearest of 
western expressions of that very spirit of actual concrete, practi- 
cal planning from University and school to region and village, 
town and city; and thus of encouragement and suggestion to 
these — the conjoined tasks of Santiniketan and Sriniketau. 



8 4 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh , 1331 


WORLD-MOTHER. 

(From the Sanskrit ). 

By Mohinimoiian Chatterjek. 


Plenitude of Godhead, World-mother, 
Formless, all-formed, 

Limitless, portionlevSs, destroyer of 
Diversity, 

Salutation on salutation unto Thee. 

Creatrix of name and form, 

Thyself without form and name, 
Self-radiant, by speech unspoken, 
Beautifier of the void, 

Salutation on salutation unto Thee. 

As Thine own work art Thou form’d, 
Thou, Mother of the Universe, 
Formless as the cause art Thou, 

Our Father seen and yet unseen. 
Salutation on salutation unto Thee. 

Casting aside corporeal thought, 

Thou art impartite Bliss, 

For Thee, within without are naught, 
Alone, only, one art Thou, 
Salutation on salutation unt.o Thee. 

Mother of all, may Thy children, 

Freed .of the brute in heart, 

See all in God and God in all. 

Thou, Father, Lord, Spirit pure, 
Salutation on salutation untp Thee. 



NOTES 

The First Anniversary of Sriniketan 
(The Visva-bharali Department of Rural Reconstruction.) 

President’s Opening Address. 

The ideal wliicii is in tin; heart of the spiritual endeavour 
in India is mtikti, freedom. On the occasion of the anniversary 
of Sriniketan I take this opportunity to explain it. 

The meditation text which was given to me when I was a 
boy is composed of three different sentences from three Upani- 
sliads. It has been the guiding light in my own spiritual path 
towards the attainment of inn.er freedom. At first it was only 
for recitation and its meaning was merely philological. With 
the growth and experience of life its deeper significance is being 
gradually unfolded to me. 

The text is : Satyain Jnanara Anantam Brahma, Anandarupama- 
mritam Yadvibhati ; Shantani Sliivam Advaitam. Brahma is Truth, 
He is Wisdom, He is infinite ; He is revealed in deathless forms 
of Joy; He is peaceful, good; He is one. 

We are born with the consciousness of one truth which for 
us is the background of our knowledge of all truths. It is the 
truth about myself which consists of an inner reality having its 
outer manifestations. The manifestations can be proved and 
measured, but not the inner reality which gives them their unity. 
There have been some according to whom the diverse facts of 
the movements of myself are all that is real, and not the truth 
in me which is one. But for me, it does not require any help 
from logic for realising the satyam, for proving the One which 
comprehends all the facts of my life and transcends them. 

By the indwelling light of this truth I know that the world 
to which I belong, and which consists of endless series of move- 
ments, has its Truth which is one, and which gives reality to 
the innumerable facts of the universe. When we realise this 



86 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


Truth we have our joy, for in it we find the eternal harmony 
of our own reality. 

In a number of cases we ignore the truth of a man and only 
deal with the facts about him. The man who sells his things 
to me is a mere fact for myself, the man whom I employ as my 
servant is a bundle of certain facts which are useful for parti- 
cular facts of my own life. Through them I find some satis- 
faction of my needs, but I find no joy in them. For joy comes 
to us only when we realise the harmony of satyam (truth) in us, 
with the satyam in others. This happens with regard to those 
we love in whom we are directly aware of the fundamental 
truth which is being constantly manifested in their life, and 
thus realise our spiritual affinity. Their outer activities may 
not be valuable for our life purposes, nay even be a hindrance. 
They, however, have their ultimate value for us in that they are, 
that they are the embodiment of a truth which is also within me. 

It is open to us to treat this world as though consisting of 
facts not related to a truth having affinity with the truth we carry 
in our own personality. In that case we may still make use of it 
and thereby even grow rich and powerful ; but therein we find 
no fulfilment of our spirit. In such relationship we do not 
realise that freedom which gives us joy. For, our true freedom 
is not in the negation of bonds, but in the truth of that relation- 
ship wherein we have not to abide as aliens. In the region of 
Nature we take our part in a perpetual tug of war with all else, — 
the struggle for existence; in the realm of Spirit we realise our 
sympathy of kinship with the Supreme whom we meet where we 
aie one. In that union is truth, for Brahma is Satyam (Truth) ; 
in that union is muhti (freedom). 

The Truth in us not only is, but it knows. Therefore it 
has its manifestation of outer movements, its conscious unity 
of purpose. In the light of this we realise that the satyam 
which is revealed in this universe is also Jnanam; it is the 
eternal reality of knowledge. We would not know anything if 
the knowing were not there in all that is and happens, if the 
world-movements were not related in a rational co-ordination of 
wisdom. We can thus only have our freedom when in our 



April, 1024] THE SR 1 NIKETAN ANNIVERSARY 87 

relationships we have wisdom. For this we have to extend our 
knowledge, widen our experience and control our self-seeking 
impulses. As jndnam (wisdom) is the attribute of Brahma, the 
supreme truth, w r e realise it in our relationships where they 
express the disinterested greatness of the eternal. Thereby we 
reach our freedom. 

Finally, the truth in us not onlv is and knows , but it finds 
its joy in expressing itself, in giving itself out. Our true 
expression comes from the consciousness of our abundance. 
Our selfTs the limitation we carry in and about us. 

fffthis self were absolutely real bv itself then it would be 
the tTefght of folly on our part to curtail it in anv way. But as 
a m, liter of exnerience we find tliar the expression of all our 
highest delights seeks some form of the giving up of self ; in fact 
the degree of our realisation of truth is gauged by the degree of 
our self renunciation. Our knowledge creates its great concepts 
of science and philosophy, not through the compulsion of imme- 
diate needs, but through the jov of its fulness. Therefore we 
see that seekers of truth in all its departments are so often 
forgetful of their material self-inter estl | The cavemen of the 
prehistoric age, in ornameutiug the stone walls of their dwellings 
w’th pictures of animals, must have spent a great deal of their 
time and energy which could have been more practically employed 
in hunting those animals. 

Whatever -work we do, urged by the needs of our self, 
may be constructive, but not creative. When a man of genius 
produces his works primarily for the purpose of express- 
ing some ideal of perfection, be it in forms, in ideas, or in 
service, he gives expression 1o his consciousness of the infinite. 
Hence we realise from our own inner experience that Brahma is 
not only Satyam and Jndnam, but He is Ancntam (infinite) 
otherwise all our endeavours in the higher region of creative 
work and life, of love and self sacrifice, would lose their basis 
of reality. 

The next part of our text is Anandarupamamritam Yadvibhdti, 
— Brahma reveals himself in deathless forms of joy. Our own 
best creations also have this deathless form of joy, because they 



88 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh , 1331 


are the outcome of the joy which accompanies our consciousness 
of the perfect. 

The concluding part of our text is : Shantam, Shivara, 
Advaitam, — He is the Peaceful, the Good, the One. The 
Supreme Being, who is satyam, jhanam, anantam Brahma in 
his manifestation, assumes three aspects which run parallel to 
his three attributes. 

In the region of existence Peace comes out of that harmony 
which is maintained by law and order. In the human world this 
law and order gives us the outward freedom needed for the 
external process of our daily existence. 

In the higher realm of Jndnam, the ideal of perfection is 
in the inner harmony of conscious relationship, its character is 
goodness. In law we find the freedom of peace in the external 
world of existence, in goodness we find our freedom in the world 
of social relationship. Such freedom is possible, because supreme 
Truth is shdntam, shivam. 

Brahma is also Advaitam, He is one. This we know when 
we realise the highest freedom of spirit in our union of love. 


[Fre edom proves itself truly when it can afford to accept 
bondage, when its activities are no burden, its responsibilities 
are joyful. Th.e activities of the world are beautiful because 
there is the peace of law in its heart, through which it finds its 
rhythm, — the rhythm, the balance which is the external aspect 
of freedom! 

n revelation of genuine goodness in human society 
there is that grace which gives responsibility its dignity 
and sweetness; in such grace our activities find their freedom. 
In love an infinite deal of troubles lose their pressure and we 
willingly bear their burden to prove the freedom that our spirit 
realises when it finds itself united to others across the limits of 
self^J This is possible because Brahma is advaitam, is One. 

As individuals, each of us has the unity of a living organ- 
ism, distinct in himself. As social beings we are parts of a 
complex organism called humanity. As spiritual being we 
belong to a Reality which is dnandam (joy) which is love, which 
is all-comprehensive. 



April, 1924] 


THE SRINIKETAN ANNIVERSARY 


89 


The individual living organism has its need and its faculties 
for self-preservation. In the education of man there should be 
room for training him for the perfect maintenance of his indi- 
vidual life. Otherwise not only does he become helpless but 
the faculties atrophy that are for his self-preservation, the ex- 
ercise of which gives him the true enjoyment of life. Generally 
speaking, in our education this training of how to live our 
physical life is neglected; therefore we miss the Shantam (the 
peaceful) in the self-reliant treedotu of a well organised existence. 

.pThe adjustment of our individual with our social life, and 
these with the vast life of man, needs for its training the spirit 
of mutual responsibility. In our educational institutions this 
hardly finds its place. The discipline of self control and good 
behaviour is no doubt recognised, but the service of society 
requires information, experience and the exercise of a number 
of physical, moral and intellectual faculties! The result of such 
deficiency in our education we find everywhere in our surround- 
ings in the form of poverty, disease, ignorance, feebleness of 
intellect and will, and also in that aggressive spirit of egotism 
and self assertion, associated with the cultivation of sectarianism, 
institutionalism and nationalism, that creates in the human world 
the worst form of dissension and spiritual blindness. Owing to 
this lack of training in sympathy, man suffers from that lack 
of true freedom in his social life which comes from a general 
welfare with a widespread atmosphere of mutual sympathy and 
co-operation. 

I hav.e said before that the world viewed as a mere external 
fact does not delight us ; that unless we know that it has a ful- 
ness of reality for its background and foundation, our relation 
with it becomes merely utilitarian. When the conscious of our 
own spiritual being does not find its harmony in the universe 
it loses faith in itself and urges us to put all our resources into 
th.e pursuit of self-interest. Ordinarily our education does 
nothing to train our mind for realising our spiritual relationship 
with the supreme Truth. For want of this training we fail to 
develop the spirit of detachment which gives us that large atmos- 
phere wherein our inner being finds its dwelling, and space and 
leisure for its fulfilment in creation. Our creations of science, 



90 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


philosophy, art and literature can have their fulness of growth 
only under this sky of detachment. 

It is sometimes objected that su A- creations are mere 
abstractions. That may be so. Butf Music is none the less 
valuable because of the fact that it is im**the voice of concrete 
life. It grows apart from life’s noises in its own disinterested 
realm of delight. By reason of that abstraction, that aloofness, 
it acquires the power to enrich life. Owing to its distance and 
freedom the vapour that forms clouds can send i£s rain back to 
earth, making its air sweet and soil fertile. /Our knowledge, 
feelings and experience, at one stage of their progress, are 
abstracted from life, transported into the bosom of the eternal, 
and, there purged of all that is non-essential, sent back to life 
with the velocity of new impact needed for the rousing of latent 
forces. The minds of those, who in the pursuit of immediate 
needs constantly cling close to the soil of life, grow duli/j Mind 
in order to discover its freedom of outlook must soar into the 
upper air of abstraction, swim in the very heart of the infinite 
for the mere joy of it, and then come back to its world nest?! 

In all great civilisations there is the cycle of sending up the 
adventurous mind into the upper and wider space and then 
bringing it down back to solid ground. The solid earth is 
suffocated to death if it loses its atmosphere, indefinite and un- 
substantial though it be, through which it must have its com- 
munication with air and light. So also must the human world 
have its atmosphere of detachment, which never has for its 
immediate object the production of necessities, but the function 
of giving life to the creations that express the unlimited in man 
in the province of his thought, emotion and will. 

Our ideal should be to make ample provision in our bringing 
up for the development of our spiritual relationship with the 
Supreme Being which gives us freedom in all departments of life 
knowing full well that life divested of its consciousness of the 
infinite breeds only slavery in diverse forms under the appear- 
ance of liberty. Allow me to quote in this connection what I 
have said elsewhere while discussing my plan of an ideal Educa- 
tignal Institution': 



April , 1Q24] 


THE SRIN3KETAN ANNIVERSARY 


91 


The one abiding ideal in the religious life of India has been Mukti , the 
deliverance of man’s soul from the grip of self, its communion with the 
Infinite Soul through its union in anemia with the universe. This religion 
of spiritual harmony is not a theological doctrine to be taught, as a subject 
in the class, for half an hour each day. It is the spiritual truth and beauty 
of our attitude towards our surroundings, our conscious relationship with 
the Infinite, and the lasting powe; of th° Eternal in the passing moments 
of our life. Such a religious idea can only be made possible by making 
piovision for students to live in infinite touch with nature, daily to grow 
in an atmosphere of sendee offered to all creatures, tending trees, feeding 
birds and animals* learning to feel the immense mystery of the soil and water 
and air. 

Along with this, there should be some common sharing of life with 
the tillers of the soil and the humble workers in the neighbouring villages; 
studying their crafts, inviting them to the feasts, joining them in works 
of co-operation for communal welfare ; and in our intercourse we should 
be guided, not by moral maxims or the condescension of social superiority, 
but by natural sympathy of life for life, and by tlic sheer necessity of 
love’s sacrifice for its own sake. In such an atmosphere students would 
learn to understand that humanity is a divine harp of many strings, waiting 
for its one grand music. Those who realise this unity are made ready 
for the pilgrimage through the night of suffering, and along the path of 
sacrifice, to the great meeting of Man in the future, for which the call 
comes to us across the darkness. 

Iyife, in such a centre, should be simple and clean. We should never 
believe that simplicity of life might make ns unsuited to the requirements 
of the society of our time. It is the simplicity of the tuning-fork, which 
is needed all the more because of the intricacy of strings in flic instrument. 
In the morning of our career our nature needs Hie pure and the perfect note 
of a spiritual ideal in order to fit us for the complications of our later years. 

In other words, this institution should be a perpetual creation by the 
co-operative enthusiasm of teachers and students growing with the growth 
of their soul ; a world in itself, self-sustaining, independent, rich with 
ever-renewing life, radiating life across space and time, attracting and 
maintaining round it a planetary system of dependent bodies. Its aim 
should lie in imparting life-breath to the complete man, who is intellectual 
as well as economic, bound by social bonds, but aspiring towards spiritual 
freedom and final perfection'. 



92 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


The Ceremony. 


The following Vedic mantrams were uttered (in translation) 
by the Director and the Heads of Sections, and the responses 
made by the staff and students, assembled on a stadium decorated 
with alponas, the villagers and guests gathered around. 


Leader : 

Roo pitt c e : 

Response : 
Leader : 

Leader : 

Response : 
Leader : 


Response : 
Leader : 


Response : 
Leader : 


Response : 
Leader : 


Yatha dyausetya prithiviclia na vibito na rishyatah, 

Eva me pran/ ma vibheli. 

Like Heaven and Earth that neither fear nor are injured, 
my life, never fear ! 

Ma vibheh, Never fear! 

Yathahascha ratricha 11a vibhito 11a rishyatah, 

Eva me prana m& vibheh. 

Like day and night that neither fear nor are injured, my 
life, never fear ! 

Mavibheh, Sever fear ! 

Yatha bhutam cha bhavyam cha na vibhito na rishyatah, 
Eva me prana ma Vibheh. 

Like the time past and the time to come that neither fear 
nor are injured, my life, never fear! 

Ma vibheh, /flever fear ! 

Ima ya pancha pradisho ntaipavih paheha krishtayah, 
Vrishte shapam nadtriveha/sphatim samavahan. 

Like a river after a shower carrying its flood, may all races 
and quarters of the sky carry their fulness. 
Sphatimihasumavalian, May all races carry their fulness! 
Udutsam shatadharam sahasradharamaksliitam, 
Evasmakedain dhanyam sahasradliaramakshitam. 

Like a fountain that is never exhausted in a hundred, nay 
even in a thousand streams, may our store of grain never 
be exhausted in a thousand outpourings ! 

Astu sahasradliaramakshitam, May our stores never be 
exhausted in a thousand outpourings 
Sam sam sravantu pashavali samas^hvali samupurushah, 
Sam dhanyasya ya sphatih samsratvyena havisha juhomi. 
Hither may all creatures come, horses and men in a united 
stream ; here let the plenty that is of the harvest be heaped. 


♦These were called SAmnianasya«Mantra, mantrams of the Unity of Spirit. 



April, IQ24 ] 
Response : 
Response : 

Response : 
Leader : 

Response : 
Leader : 

Response : 

Response : 
Leader : 


THE SRINIKETAN ANNIVERSARY 93 

Sainsravyena havisha juhonri, We offer this : this the invoca- 
tion of union. 

Samvo maiiamsi samvrata/sainakutirnamaniasi, 

Ami ye vivratasthana tati vali samnamaydniasi. 

Ye who are distracted, may we incline you towards one 
mind, one cause, one aspiration. 

Sammanasyam sadastunah, Incline ns towards one mind 
011c cause, one aspiration. 

Aliam gribhanis manasa manams* 

ret a, mamachittamauiichittebhi 
Iliedasatlia na parogamatheryo gopoh pushtapatirva ajat. 
May I gain your minds with my mind ; come to my heart 
with the fellowship of hearts. May you dwell here 
together never falling asunder. I ct a mighty leader, a 
lord of nourishment, gather you here together. 

Iryo gopoh pushtapatirna ajat, Let some mighty leader, 
some lord of nourishment, gather you here together. 
Saliridayani SammanasyaiiiavidVesham krinomi vah, 

Anyo anyani abhiharyata vatsam jatamivighnya. 

May you through me become gracious and friendly to each 
other, free from mutual hatred. Serve each other even 
as the cow serves her new born calf with care. 

Anyo anyani abhiharyamah, Let ns serve each other even 
as the cow serves her new born calf with care. 

Ma bhrata bhrataram dvikshari ma svasaramutasvasa, 
Samyanchah savrata bhtitva vacham vadata bhadraya. 

May brothers never liate brothers, nor sisters hate sisters. 
May you possess a kindred spirit and a common cause. 
Speak words with good will. 

Vacham vadema bhadraya, May we possess a kindred .spirit 
and common cause. May we speak words with good will. 

Sadhrinan vah samanashkrinomi ekashmtshtin 

samvananena sarvin, 

Devi ivamritam rakshaminah sa^yampritah 

saumanaso vo astu. 

May I, with the feeling of friendliness, help you to become 
comrades united in mind and in enjoyment. Be like gods 
who day and night protect their draught of Ever-lasting 



94 


THE VlSVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


Life. Let your love be like their love. 

Response: Sauinanaso no astu, Let our love be lik e th eir love^ 

Leader: Svasti matra uta pitre no astu 

Svasti gobhyo jagate purushebhya, 

Vishvam subhutam suyidatram no astu 
Devah sa nah subhui^nieha vakshai. 

Let there be well being for our fathers and for our mothers, 
for our kine, for all men and for all the world. Let the 
universe carry for us welfare and wisdom. May God bring 
here to us our welfare. 

Leader : Devah sa nah subhutameha vakshat, May God bring here 

to us our welfare. 

President: Prithivi shantirantariksfyam shanti dyaushanti 

Apah shasitiroshadhayafi shantirvanaspatayah shanti 
Vishvenie devah shantih sarve me Devah shantih 
Shantih shantih shaiitibhih. 

Tabhih shaiitibhih safvashantibhih 
Shamayamohani yadiha glioram 
yadiha krurani yadiha papain 
Tacchantam tacchivhm sarvameva shamastu nah. 

Let peace reign over the earth and sky: Let it spread 
upon the waters, in the fields and forests: let the divine 
powers in the universe be for our peace. Let me, with 
the peace which is for all, tranquilisc whatever is terrible 
and cruel into the serene and the good. Let peace come 
to us through the All. 

All : Sarvameva shamastunah, Let peace come to us though the 

All. 



VISVA-BH ARAT I BULLETIN 


I 

The GuesMIouse of India. 

[Spcecli by Rabindranath Tapote, in <cply to the address of the 
Sdraswats at Santa Chic (near Bombay.] 

It is a great reward to me when I realise that yon, who belong to the 
west of India acknowledge me and receive me as your own poet. It shows 
that, through my work, I have done something to unite in a bond of 
sympathy and love the different parts of India; that I belong not only to 
Bengal, but also to this Province, where you have the same feeling 
for me as my own people. There are those who have other vocations. 
They serve their country and bring wealth to it in their own way. But 
the poet represents the wealth, which not only belongs to the country in 
which he has born, but to all countries. Therefore, through the poets and 
idealists, the country to which they belong is brought into close relation- 
ship of love with other countries. 

Our Motherland has been suffering from her obscurity. For centuries 
India did not reveal herself. We are even now too much taken up with our 
immediate grievances and but display our poverty when we go on complain- 
ing about the miseries from which wc suffer. But India has its positive 
side. There is the great spiritual wealth which we have inherited and 
still possess and that has to be given tp the world. If we do give it, 
then we shall be able to reveal ourselves through our wealth and not 
through our poverty. This inherited wealth has its responsibilities, for 
it gives us the power to invite others to share it, and the acceptance of our 
hospitality is the best honour we can receive from the world. 

We know in India that the householder, the Grihasta, is honoured when 
the guest comes to his door. It is not the guest who is under an obligation, 
as is often assumed in western countries, where it is considered to be a 
privilege to be asked to become a guest by the host. It is just the contrary 
with us. It is the host who realises that it is a privilege and honour to be 
able to receive guests into his house. Therefore, it has been said in our 
Scriptures: Atithi devobhava : The atithi (guest) is divine, because he 
brings to our home the great ideal of the spiritual unity of all human beings. 
We are tied by a bond of natural affinity to our lonsmen ; and when we 



96 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


serve them, we merely serve ourselves. But when we offer service to our 
guests, then we offer service to humanity ; and the Divine Being comes to 
our door as Atithi claiming that service. 

It has been said in the Upanishads, that only they who realise Truth 
become immortal. Our ancestors did realise that Truth which gives the 
right to immortality. Therefore they offered their invitation to the whole 
world to come and share the spiritual wealth which had come to them. 
They said: “Let all come from all lands.’ * The seer, who realised this 
great truth exclaimed to the whole world : 

Srinvantu vishve’mritasya putrah vedahametam purusham 

mahantam adityavarnam tamasah parastat. 

fi Ye, ivho are the children of the Immortal , hearken to me, for I have 
known this, the Supreme Being , the Infinite Personality, from across the 
darkness .” 

When the seer of the Upanishads realised this in his own self, — this 
great Light coming from across the darkness — he did not think that it was 
only fpr his own use, he sent out his invitation to the entire human race. 
He said to all mankind: “Ye are the children of the Immortal.” 

This invitation has already gone forth from our ancestors. They sent 
it out to the whole world. Now it is pur duty and responsibility to take 
up that same call of invitation and to ask the world to come to us. We 
must say once again that the truth which gave immortality had been 
realised by our forefathers ; and this great spiritual wealth we have 
inherited from them has net perished. The light is not extinct. 

And who is to acclaim it to the world but your Poet ? If I have done 
that service, if I have sent out that invitation of India, then I can come 
to y.ou with a proud heart, and I can claim your help to enable me to 
build up this guest-house of India at Santiniketan. We all know that 
the real duty of a grihasta remains unperformed, if he makes no provision 
foi his guests. Modern India has hitherto made no provision for those 
from other lands who are seekers after truth, and come to her door asking 
for help, who are longing to find spiritual sustenance from the store of 
wisdom which they believe has come down to us from our ancestors and they 
have asked it of you through me, whom they took to be your representa- 
tive. I offered India’s invitation to them and they were willing to accept it. 

You all know that, in olden times, we had great universities at 
N&landa and Takshasila, where students used to come from China, from 
Western Asia, and even from Europe. That was a time of great glory to 



April , 1Q24) 


THE GUEST-HOUSE oE INDIA 


97 


our Motherland. Npw that time has come once more. The opportunity 
is before us again. Dr. Foulkes, the great archaeologist, came to 
Santiniketan once. He said to me that Europe was going through an Indian 
Renaissance. I thought that he was merely paying me a compliment ; 
and did not take him at all seriously at that time. But when I went to 
the continent of Europe, I was fully convinced of the truth of his remark. 

The first country which I visited was Holland. Everywhere, in all 
the great universities, and in other places wheic I spoke, how keen they 
were to know something about the solutnu of the problem of existence 
which our anccstois offered to the world! In France, in Switzerland, — 
everywhere I went, it was the same thing. I only wished there had been 
some of my own countrymen present. D is almost unbelievable, the 
enthusiasm with which they greeted the message of India that I brought 
to them. In Germany, I had occasion to meet philosophers and scientists 
and students, frpm Heidelburg, Leipzig and other universities. They 
flocked round me, not to do honour <0 an individual, but to a poet who 
represented the ideals of India. 

They all came to me and said : “Sir, we have lost our faith in pur 
teachers.” They wanted something more satisfying, and they expected 
that from India. When I realised this, I thought it was my own 
responsibility and duty to offer them our hospital^, in the name of my 
Motherland ; and I have clone so, to the best of my power. 

Therefore now I have come to beg from my countrymen that this yajfni 
may be performed by the help of the children of this land. I thank you 
for whatever gifts you bring to me for our Visva-bharati, not only because 
that will help me in my mission, but also because it will relieve me 
personally of a great burden of responsibility and enable me to go back to 
my own true vocation as a poet. For you must realise that you, who have 
come to honour me, as your own national poet of India, must give me 
leisure to pursue my own work as such. 

I must be relieved even of Visva-bharati. Visva-bharati belongs to 
every one of you. It is open to any one to come and take iif) its burden. 
You are welcome, because you have the right ; it belongs to you all, and 
it is only waiting to be owned by you. I hope that a day will come when 
every one of you will want to say : “It is mine.” 

You know how the university of Naland& was started. It was 
supported by householders. Merchants brought their help in kind, not 



98 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


merely in money. From every part of India assistance came. I hope that 
Visva-bharati, which claims to belong to India, will meet with the same 
good fortune ; that householders of modern India will come to help the 
Brahmacharis there, and also the scholars who come to it from other parts 
of the world. 


II 

The Meaning of Visva*Bharati. 

f/ldd/'css given by C. F. Andrews 0)i bchaVf of Vishva-bharati to the students of 
Tiavancorc , during Rabindranath Tagore's visit.] 

In the first place I wish to represent to you vvliat I feel to be the 
world situation after the Great War. Secondly, I shall try further to 
put before you what I think to be the one vital factor in the Indian 
situation. 

With regard to the world situation, I have been taught by Rabindra- 
nath, the poet, to believe that we stand at the dawn of a new era in human 
history. These are very big words to utter; but I truly believe that the 
late war, with all its world-wide influences, has been a greater historic 
event than the French Revolution, which shook the whole of Europe and 
America just a hundred years ago. 

The difference between these two great shocks of revolution is this. 
While the French Revolution affected Europe and America only, the recent 
war has shaken the whole world. It has broken down the last geographi- 
cal barriers separating the East from the West. Asia has been stirred 
almost as much as Europe, though Asia lias not suffered as Europe has 
suffered. Of one thing we can be quite certain to-day. The East is no 
longer still wrapped in slumber as it was a century ago, at the time of the 
French Revolution; Asia, from end to end, is restlessly awake. 

The war has had two effects. One has been what we may call spiritual 
Men’s minds have been stirred as they have never been stirred before for 
many generations. Of that I shall speak later. But there is another side 
that is vitally important. The discoveries of science, owing to the urgency 
of the war period, have been so accelerated, — especially with regard to 
inter-communication, — that in five or six years the whole outer world has 
been changed. 



April, 1924 ] THE MEANING OE VISVA-BHARATI 


99 


I*et me give yon one single illustration. When I was a child, I used 
to pore eagerly over all the maps of the different continents of the world, 
which were in my father's library. I remember quite distinctly a map of 
Africa, in which the whole of Central Africa was marked by the one word 
‘unexplored .' * Yet only last year I vent by steam-boat, by rail, and by 
motor car, into the very heart of Central Africa, in order to understand 
the difficulties of the Indians who arc living abroad. I found that in the 
country, which was marked ‘unexplored' in that earlier atlas, you can 
keep in the closest touch with Bombvy and Calcutta, while you go along 
the main routes. You can also ride swiftly from place to place in a motor 
car there in the very middle of Central Africa. 

The same thing has been effected in every part the world. Every- 
where to-day the races are coming into contact with one another with the 
utmost rapidity. Still further, what is taking place so quickly in the 
present year is going to happen with still more increased speed during the 
next five years. The aeroplane unquestionably will soon become the 
common mode of locomotion. Before you, who are now young men, are 
fully grown up, you will all of you be flying ! 

In the same way the telephone can now ring up a city which is on the 
other side of a continent. Radio-telegraphy has advanced so quickly in 
in America during the last few months, that even private individuals can 
get wireless messages from distant places by their own private wireless 
apparatus. We are assured, at the same time, that very soon actual images 
of distant living faces, will be made visible upon a sensitive x>late and 
printed off by some process of photo-telegraphy. All these things are 
occuring in our own times, and this great movement towards the outward 
intercourse of mankind is advancing with inevitable speed every day. 

Here, then, is the picture which I have tried to set befoi'e your eyes, 
in order to illustrate on its physical side the present world" situation. 

But over against that picture I want to put another fact about the 
modern world, which is far more serious in its consequences. There is 
the danger, the ever increasing danger, of the races, after having come 
together, not really uniting, but rather becoming more and more spiritually 
divided. The outward meeting of the races has been made easy, owing 
to scientific advances ; blit when the races have thus come near to one 
another, their contact has proved to be something like the negative and 
positive poles of electricity. There is a flash, and a shock, and you see 
them flying apart. 



IOO 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


The modern world, as far as I have seen it, — and I am speaking from 
a wide experience, — seems to me to be fuller of racial hatred and bitterness 
between nations than it was before the war. These evils seem somehow 
to have come out more visibly and openly, like some fatal disease lurking 
within the body of humanity, which instead of being driven back by the 
world crisis, has been made more actively acute. The fever is now at its 
height. 

So to-day, throughout the world, we see the beginnings of a new and 
terrible struggle a new growth of that human callousness, which in India 
has been called 'untouchability.* All the old problems, which for centuries 
have been vexing the soul of India, as she has endeavoured to set herself 
free form race prejudice, are now being reproduced in the larger field of 
the whole world. That, as far as I can understand it, is the world situation 
to-day on its spiritual side. 

What then can I say about the Indian situation? What is your posi- 
tion in India, face to face with this spiritual menace in the larger world? 
Can you here in Travancore help the world in this impending conflict? 
Can you give the world any forward spiritual impetus which may serve to 
counteract this new world-evil? Can you, from India, send out any 
massage of love and peace and hope to the whole human race? 

No ! You cannot, so long as you insist on keeping your own untouch- 
able problem unsolved at home. That is my most serious message to you, 
and I hope you will heed it. Mahatma Gandhi would have given the same 
message,— nay, he is giving it through my lips. You cannot send out to 
the world any spiritual message effectively, while your own untouchability 
problem remains unregarded. You must either deal with it courageously 
and help to solve it, or else pr.ove traitors to humanity. 

I have told the following two incidents often ; 6ut I wish to repeat them 
to you in their completeness, for they are full of meaning. 

In South Africa, I was with Mahatma Gandhi's son, Ramdas, who was 
very dear to me. One evening we were in Johannesburg Station waiting 
for the Durban Mail. When it came in, Ramdas went into the compart- 
ment to put my hand-bag on my seat. First of all, a young English lad 
caught hold of him and would have beaten him, if I had not prevented 
him ; and then the European conductor was about to assault him and I had 
to stop him also. 



April, 1924]* 


THE MEANING OF VISVA-BHARATI 


IOI 


You may imagine all that I felt, and how my heart was bursting with 
indignation. This insult was offered simply because Ramdas was an 
Indian. This carriage was a ‘European quarter.* There, in South 
Africa, the Indian was the ‘untouchable.* According to European opinion, 
the Indian had to be ‘segregated*. The whole South African struggle has 
been fought out by Mahatma Gandhi in order to prevent such ‘segregation.* 
Now let us turn to another picture. A .Mttle time ago, when I came 
last time with the P^et, to Pal ghat in Mabbar, T went down one of the 
streets, walking side by side with a young ined’cal student, who had a 
strikingly intellectual fate aim gave me great pleasure by his company. 
He was telling me concerning* the difficulties he had encountered while 
trying to obtain his own medical training. lie had even had to stay back 
for a year in order to earn enough money to continue his studies. When 
he finished his course, he was determined to go and help his own country- 
men and become a doctor in the Malabar villages, which he knew so well. 

Just as we were proceeding, he suddenly ran off and left me. I turned 
round tp my companion and said, — “I do hope, I have not done anything 
to offend him.** My companion answered : “No, you have done nothing ; 
but this street is a ‘Brahmin quarter*, and had he dared to enter it he 
would have been beaten, perhaps almost to death.** 

Here again, you may imagine how my heart was wrung with pain. 
J met the young student again, at the end of the road, and said to him; 
“You must enter this quarter without fear. That is the only thing to do. 
You should face even martyrdom, — but break this inhuman custom you 
must.** I then asked him to come back with me and he did so. 

In each instance, the evil is .one and the same thing. An 
Indian who had settled in South Africa said to me: “Now I know that 
the Eaw of Karma is inexorable. For just as we have treated our own 
brothers and sisters in India by making them ‘untouchables*, even so we 
are being made pariahs and outcastes to-day.** 

Therefore I am afraid my message must be a stern one. I must try 
to tell you the truth. If you aie ready to take up this problem and solve 
it in your own country, then indeed, you can send forth your spiritual 
message tp the world. Then indeed you can relate your spiritual experiences 
to men of other lands in their new race conflicts and they will hear you. 
But you can never do anything at all, if your hands arc tied fast with 
your own ropes. 



102 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


Many years ago, I was in South Africa with Mahatma Gandhi, when 
in the veiy midst of his passive resistance movement, he was struggling, 
even through going to prison again and again, to get rid of those evils, with 
which his countrymen were being kept in subjection by my own race. 

In the Mahatma’s ashram at Phoenix, where I used to live with him, 
he had adopted a baby who was an untouchable. He had made this little 
girl his own daughter. That child of his is now in India. She is still as 
his own daughter. That one act of Mahatma Gandhi is worth ten thousand 
speeches. I know, — because I have been with him all these years, — I know 
how, in his heart of hearts, there is no other single cause in all the world, 
that he ardently desires more than the removal of untouchability from the 
whole of this country of India. 

Very soon after my return from South Africa, I was with Rabindranath 
Tagore, in the Ashram at Santiniketan . I came to him one evening and 
found his face filled with a look of intense pain. He told me the cause. 
All the afternoon he had been seated with a Namasudra from some 
village in Bengal, who had told him the simple story of his own life 
as an outcaste and what he had to suffer. The Ppet took him into his 
own house and kept him there many days. Meanwhile he sought in every 
way to find a means of providing, not merely a temporary help, blit a 
permanent remedy for the evils from which he and his people had suffered. 

I have felt this so deeply in my own heart, that wherever 
I meet young men, I am obliged to tell them these truths as clearly and as 
unflinchingly as I can, so that they may sink doep into, their hearts with 
conviction. I have a right to do so ; f.or I have fought and struggled against 
the same evils in my own countrymen, and I have suffered for so doing. 
Therefore I plead with you, young men, in the name of Mahatma Gandhi 
and in the name of the ppet, Rabindranath Tagore, to remove this great 
curse of untouchability from our midst, .so that once more India may raise 
her head among the peoples of the world, as a country of the free, where 
moral justice is everywhere lpved and cherished. That is my hope. That 
is my longing. That is my ideal. 

Furthermore, if you ask me whether there is one place in India where 
this ideal can be carried out to the full, where there is not only no un- 
touchability but also no barrier of any kind between the East and the West, 
I would point you to Santiniketan. 



Sprit, 1924] 


THE PARA S UR AM A TRADITION 


103 


There the Poet's father, Maharslii Hcvendranath Tagore, had originally 
founded an Ashram many years ago, in which* there should be no distinction 
whatever of race or colour or creed or sect ; and the Poet, Rabindranath 
Tagore, Ids son, has since then founded in his turn our Visva-bharati, where 
East and West and North and South may meet in a common and mutual 
fellowship of study and work, for die fulfilment of the unity of the human 
race. 

Here, where I have spent nearly ton of the happiest years of my life, 
1 have learnt to throw av T av the Lust shreds of race prejudice, which may 
have remained lurking within n’e, and to hold dearer than life itself this 
fundamental faith of the one great brotherhood of man. It is to this 
Ashram that I would invito you.. I would ask to come and share our 
work ; and if your presence there is impossible, I would ask you at least 
to share our ideal and to associate yourselves with us in whatever way 
you can. Thus you will learn more and more every day to enter into 
the great constructive work of unity and brotherhood, which the human 
race in our own generation is called upon to fulfil. 

Ill 

The Parasurama Tradition and its Significance. 

By P. Anujan Actian. 

( Research Student of l Hswubhdrali, Sdntinikclan.) 

1. The Ancestry or- Parasurama. 

The name Parasurama is not found in the Veda, but he is said to be 
the descendant of Bhrigu, whose name is well-known in Vcdic literature. (1) 
According to the Mahdbhdrata, {2) he is the son of Yamadagni,(.s) who is 
mentioned in the Rigveda as one of the mythical sages. (4) The Bhrigus 


(j) Bhrigu, in the singular, refers to a son of Varuna, with the patronymic 
Varuni. Vide , Ailarcya-Brdhmana III 34 ; Sdtapatha-Brdhmana XI 6.1.1 ; Taitiiriya- 
Ar any aka IX 1, etc. 

Bhrigu, in the plural, refers to a priestly dan who arc repeatedly alluded to as 
devoted to the fire cult. Vide t Rigveda I 58.6; 127.7; 143.4; U 4 - 3 ; III 2.4; IV 7.1. 
See also, MacdonelVKeith, Vedic Index II, p. 108. 

(2) The Bombay Edition of the Mahdbhdrata is being quoted throughout. 

{3) Vide, Mahdbhdrata, Aranyaparvan, adhydya 115, v. 4; Adiparvan, adhydya , 
66, v. 48. 

(4) In some psasages YamadagnPs name occurs in such a way as to indicate 
that he is the author of the hymn. Vide, Rigveda III 62.18; VI II ror.8; IX 62.24; 
65.25. (He is also quite a frequent figure in 11 k* M aitrdyan i-Samhiid, Vdjasaniyi - 
Samhitd, Vdncavimsa-Brdhmana, Aitareya-Brdmana, Salapatha - Brhhmana, Tatttirfya - 
A r any aka, firhaddranyaka-U panisad, etc. —see, Vedic Index I, p. 276.) 



'104 THE V 1 SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, iy$l 

were a group of ancient priests. In the Taittiriya-Samhiid they are 
mentioned as priests in connection with Agnislhdpanci and similar rites. (5) 
That the Bhrigus also possessed the qualities of warriors, we shall see 
later on. 

In adhydya 66, vv. 42-48 of the Adiparoan of the Mahdbhdrala , is given 
a list of the ancestors of Yamadagni. Riclnka is said to be YamadagnPs 
father, who was the son of Aurva whose father was Chvavana who was the 
second son of Bhrigu, the first being Sukra. But in Asval&yana's list of 
the Pravara Rishis of the gotra of Ydmadagnyah Vaisdh the names are 
Bhargava, Chyavana, Apnavana, Aurva and Yamadagni, without any 
mention of Richika.(6) It is to be noted that while Chyavana and Aurva 
are mentioned in the Buihrnanas as Bhrigus, (7) no mention of either 
Riclnka or Apnav&na is to be found in Vedic literature. 

It may seem strange that Parasurama has no place in Vedic literature, 
while his father, Yamadagni finds frequent mention from the time of the 
Rigveda onwards. A Rama has been mentioned in the Rigveda (X 93. 14) 
but it was only the name of an ordinary man. I11 the Saiapatha*Brdhmana 
(IV 6.1.7) another Rama is mentioned, a teacher and a descendant of 
Upatasvina. A third Rama is mentioned in the ] aiminiya-U panishad- 
Brdhmana (III 40. 1, IV 16. 1) a descendant of Kratujata and also a teacher. 
A fourth Rama, Rama Margaveya (descendant of Mrigu), is mentioned in 
the Aitareya-Brdhivana (VII 27.3). This Rama was in someway connected 
with a priestly family of the Syaparnas, and was learned in sacred know- 
ledge. Once Rama Margaveya is said to have championed the cause of the 
Sy&parnas against a king called Visvantara, because he had performed a 
sacrifice without the aid of the former, who had been officiating till then as 
his family priest. (8) Scholars are inclined to think that this last R&ma may 
probably be Parasurama. (9) 

(5) Taitttrlya-Samhiia IV 6.5.2; V 6.8.6; Vedic Index Vol. II, p. 109. 

(6) Vide, Max Muller's History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature (Ed. 1912), 
pp. 195-196. 

Chyavana is here (in Asvaldyana-Sroutasutra) mentioned as Chyavana. We 
shall see subsequently that in the Rigveda (X 61.1-3) he is called Chyavana . 

(7) Chyavana is called a Bhrigu or Angfrasa in the Satapatha-Brdhmana (TV 1.5.1) 
Aurva, a Bhrigu in the Kausitaki-Brdhmana (XXX 5) ; Vedic Index Vol. I, p. 265, 
and 129. 

(8) Aitareya-Brdhmana VII 27; Muir's Sanskrit Texts, part I, p. 173; Vedic 
Index I, p. 155. 

(9) Prof. Max Miiller in a note (see, his History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 
p. 251) remarks : "Mdrgaveya is a difficult name. It may be simply, as S&yana 
says, the sou of his mother Mrigu ; but Mrigu may be a variety of Bhrigu, and thus 
confirm Lassen's conjecture that this Rdma is R&ma, the son hf Yamadagni, of the 
race of Bhrigu, commonly called Parasurama". 




April , 1924 ] 


THIt PARAS UK AM A TRADITION 


The ancestors of Parasurama, who are wellknown in the Veda, were 
no doubt a class of priests. But they were also possessed of certain 
martial qualities, which whenever necessary they did not fail to use. Thus, 
in the battle of the ten Kings, the Bhrigus appeared with the Druhyus 
(Rigveda VII. 18. 6). (10) Chyavana, who is said to be the s.on of Bhrigu, 
seems (i 1 Rigveda , X 61. 1-3) to have been opposed to the Paktha prince, 
Turvayaia, an Indra worshipper. In the Jaiminiya-Brdhmam (III. 
121 — J2$) it is related that Vidanvant, another son of Bhrigu, supported 
Chyavana against Indra An) The sto™ of Aurva, as given in the 
Mahabh&rata (A dip ar van, alhykyas 178- -180) relates that Aurva, the 
descendant of the Bhrigus who had been the family priests of King 
Kritavfiya, meditated the destruction of all living creatures in revenge for 
the insult done to his race by the sons of Kritavfrya. This only shows 
how well Parasurama deserves to be counted as one of the Bhrigus. 

2. Parasurama in tiie Epics. 

In tl e Mahdbhdrata, Aranyaparvan , the story of Parasurama is related 
in three a dhydyas, viz., 115, 116, 117. The fi rst, among these, deals with 
the story of Parasuramals birth. (12) He was born as the fifth sou of 
Yamadagni and his wife Rcnuka, and as the grandson of Richika, who had 
as Ids wii'c Satyavati, the sister of Viswamitra and the daughter of King 
Gad hi . The second adhydya relates how Parasurama, at his father’s com- 
mand, put his mother to death ; she being restored to life by his father at 
his request. Once, Arjuna Kartavirya, King of the Haihayas, is said to 
have gone to YarnadagnPs hermitage, where he was respectfully received. 
But he requited the hostipalify received by him by forcibly carrying away 
the calf <if the sage’s sacrificial cow. Rama, hearing this, went to fight 
with Arjuna and put him to death ; whereupon Arjuna’s sons, in return, 
slew the sage, Yamadagni, during the absence of his son Parasurama. 
The third adhydya deals with the rest of the story. Parasurama, in 
revenge, vowed to destroy the whole Kshatriya race ; and began by 
killing, first, Arjuna’s sons. And then twenty-one times he swept away 

(10) Also see, Vedic Index I, p. 109. 

(11) Ibid., Vol. II, p. 265. 

(12) Slokas 9 to 19 of adhydya 115, which deal with the part played by the devas, 
including Vishnu, im the birth of Parasurama, are omitted in two Southern MSS. of 
the Mahdbkdrata (one Malayalam MS. belonging to the Pdliyam Family of 
Jayantamangalam, Cochin State; and one Grantha MS., No. 1666 of the Mysore 
Library), while they are found in one Beng&li MS. No. 327 of the Viswabhdrati 
Library, all of which I have compared with the text of the Bombay Edition. It 
seems tr> me that this passage might have been a later interpolation, brought in 
only to establish the divine character of Parasurama. 




106 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 133/ 

the Kshatriya race from the earth, and formed five lakes of blood in 
Samantapanchaka ( Kurukshetra ), where he off erred oblation (tarpana) to 
his departed forefathers. He, then, performed a sacrifice to Indra, at which 
he gave away the whole earth to Kashyapa and other priests, and! retired 
to mount Mahendra. 

This is the Parasurama-legeud in the Ai\anyaparvan of the Mahd - 
bharata . Five chief points may here be noted, viz. : 

(i) that Arjuna Ivartavirya carried away by force the calf of the 
sage’s sacrificial cow ; 

(ii) that Parasurama, in anger, went and killed Arjuna ; 

(Hi) that Parasurama formed five lakes of blood to propitiate his fore- 
fathers ; 

(iv) that he, in a sacrifice, gave over the earth to Brahmans; 

(v) that Parasurama retired to mount Mahendra. 

It seems strange that in another version of the same legend in the 
Shaniiparvan , adliydya 49, of the Mahdbhdrala , though the main story is 
the same, there is hardly any mention of any of the five points noted above, 
except the fourth, viz., that Parasurama made a gift of the earth to the 
Brahman priests. In this version, Arjuna Kartavfrva is represented as a 
dutiful and religious monarch, who bestowed on the Brahmans the whole 
of the territory he had conquered. Moreover, the theft of the sage’s calf 
is here ascribed not to Arjuna, but to his sons, for whose crimes Arjuna 
had his arms cut off by Parasurama. The destruction of the Kshatriyas 
for twenty-one times, by the latter is mentioned as also his gift of the 
whole earth to Kashyapa, as a sacrificial fee. But here wc are not told 
anything of the lakes of blood formed by Parasurama wherewith he pro- 
pitiated his forefathers. A more curious part of this version is that which 
deals with the rest of Parasurama’s life. (13) Here, we are told that 
Kashyapa, in order that the remaining Kshatriyas might be saved, did not 
allow Parasurama to remain in his realm, but sent him to the shore of the 
Southern Ocean. Whereupon, the waters receded, and a new land was 
created for Rama, called Surpdraka.( 14) 

(13) Bide, Sdntiparvan, adliydya 49, vv. 65 — 89. 

(14) This is found both in the Southern and the Bengali recensions of the 
Malidblidrata which I have compared; such as, for instance, the Paliyam Family 
MS of the Sdntiparvan , the Grantha MS. No. 1 666 of the Mysore Library, and one 
Mala3 r &tam MS. No. 1096 and two Bngnli MSS. No. 6 and 14 of the Viswabh&rati 
Library. While all the other MSS. mention Stir pdr aka, the Bengali MS. No. 6 has 
it changed to Stirpdkara . The tenth Nasik cave inscription of the second century 
A.D. calls it Sorphraga ; (Epigraphica Indica, Vol. VIII, p. 78). 



April, 1924] 


THE PARASURAMA TRADITION 


107 

The special feature of this version of the legend is, that both Arjuna 
and Parasurama are represented as less cruel which is a distinct proof that 
it belongs to a later period of more advanced manners. In the first, the 
son of a Rishi is described as something like a blood-thirsty demon, forming 
five lakes of blood after the destruction of the whole Kshatriya race thrice 
seven times, and, what is more, propitiating his forefathers with the blood 
thus formed, which ascriptions are surely an outrage upon the saintly 
character of the Bhrigus, if not on the whole Bralmian race. It is a relief 
to find this minimised in *he second version of the legend. 

Before proceeding further, let us examine a third version of the same 
legend as given in the Anmhasanaparvan of the Mahdbhdrala. The story 
of Arjuna is given in adhydyas 152-157, where he is represented 
as a puissant monarch of unquestioned valour, ruling over the whole earth 
and recking naught of the claims to superiority of the Brahmans. The god 
Vayu remonstrated with him from his place in the skies and advised him 
to abandon his sinful disposition, and do reverence to the Brahmans, who, 
he threatened, would otherwise expel him from his kingdom. Arjuna in 
reply taxed the god with partiality to the Brahmans. But Vayu, after 
adducing various considerations, convinced the king at length of the 
superior might of the Br&hmaim. So far for Arjuna. The story of 
Parasurama is given in adhvdya 84, where the story is that Parasurama 
ridding the world of Kshatriyas 21 times performed a horse-sacrifice and 
thereby freed himself from sin and attained great glory. Nevertheless, 
being still troubled with qualms about the deeds he had committed, 
Parasurama took further counsel from the Rishis who advised him to bestow 
largesse of cows, land! and other riches, especially gold, the purifying 
power of which was very great. And after doing so he at last was finally 
freed from all sin. 

It is practically undisputed that by the time the legend of Parasurama 
and Arjuna received its third form, the Brahmans were enjoying, or at 
least could definitely claim, a distinctly superior position in Hindu Society. 
The Kingship would seem to have become a dependency to priesthood, for 
we are told that even the mighty Arjuna, who had been declaring that no 
Br&hman was superior to him in act, thought, or word, was compelled in 
the end to do reverence to the Br&hmans. 

In the Bdlakdnda , adhydyas 74-75, of the Ramayana , Parasur&ma is 
represented as a terrible figure with his matted locks and his irresistible 
axe and bow, immovable like mount Kaildsa and burning like the flame of 



108 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 

Kdldgni. Here, Parasur&ma is said to have approached Rama, the son 
of Dasharatha, who was 011 his way to Ayodhyd from the kingdom of 
Janaka, and offered him his Vaishnava bow which was first presented to 
his grandfather Richika by Vishnu. Parasurama, then, related his own 
story to R&ma, telling the latter how his father Yamadagni had been .slain 
by Arjuna, and how he, himself, after destroying the Kshatriya race time 
after time, had' offered the whole earth to Kashyapa as a sacrificial fee, 
and thereafter retired to mount Mahcndra. 

3. Parasurama in the Pur anas. 

In the Vishnupurdna (b-ook IV. ch. 11) and the B hdgavaiapurdn a (book 
IX. ch. 15-16), (15) we find the later developments of the same legend. In 
the latter, we are told that Yamadagni was greatly exercised to hear of 
the death of King Arjuna at the hands of his son Parasurama. The father 
told him that he had committed sin by slaying Arjuna, for, he said, to kill 
a King, who had been formally installed, was worse than to kill a 
Brdhman.(i6) Hence he advised him to go and expiate his sin by visiting 
holy places, with his mind intent upon Acliyuta (Vishnu). I11 both the 
Visnupurana and the Bhdgavatapurdna, Parasurama is represented as an 
avatara of Visnu, an idea which does not occur anywhere in the Maha- 
bhdraia or R&mdyana . In the Visnupurana he is described as 
N arayanamsa ,, and in the Bhagavatapurana as Vasudevamsa. 

4. Brahmans and Ksiiatriyas. 

This progressive development of the Parasurama legend, must have a 
deeper significance than the mere change of story. What suggests itself 
to me is that it signifies the struggle between the two upper classes for 
supremacy, which terminated, at last, in the subjection of the Kshatriya 
race and the triumph of the Br&hmans through Parasurama. This struggle 
is also seen to continue in historical times. Its can be traced back to the 
pre-Buddhistic period for instance, the story given in the Aitareya - 
Brdhmana (VII. 27) about Rdma M&rgaveya is indicative of this same 
struggle for supremacy between these two classes, the priests and the 
fighting men. The undisputed position which till then had been occupied 
by the priesthood in all kinds of religious ceremonies was being questioned. 


(15) See , also Muir's Sanskrit Texts, Part I, pp. 160 and 171. 

(16) Manu refers to the divine origin of Kings in VII. vv. 4 — 9. 




April, 1924 ] THE PARASURAMA TRADITION I09 

Subsequently, when we come to the Buddhist period, we see that the 
sacrifices, which had all along been the source of profit and advantage to 
the priests, had slowly begun to lose their importance. And the nobles 
of the warrior class gained the upperhanrl. “It will sound most amazing/* 
remarks Prof. Rhys Davids, (17) “to those familiar with Brahmin preten- 
sions (either in modern times in India, or in priestly books such as Mann 
and the epics) to hear the Brahmin spoken of as “low-born**. Yet that 
precisely is an epithet applied to them in comparison with the Kings and 
nobles. And it ought t<* open our eyt> as to their relative importance in 
these early times.* * 

This struggle between the priests and the nobles seems to have 
continued till the beginning of the Gupta period. At least, it was still 
acute in the second century after Christ, because up to that time we have 
no epigraphical records, whatsoever, to evidence that the Brahmans had 
the upperhand in society. Only in the second century after Christ, as 
Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar points out, (18) do the inscriptions begin to record 
grants of land to Br&hmans. In the third century there are also a few 
instances. From the fourth century onwards, we are told,. these inscrip- 
tions are quite numerous, showing a marked rise in Brahman influence. 
The Gupta Kings are then stated to have performed sacrifices and given 
numerous grants of land to Br&hmans, and to the temples in their charge. 
Before the second century A. D. back to the third century B. C. there are 
numerous records of gifts made by kings, princes, chiefs, as well as by 
merchants, artisans and others. But, not one of these is given in support 
of anything with which tlie Brahmans had anv connection. And whereas 
the latter inscriptions recording gifts in favour of the Br&hmans arc in 
Sanskrit, the earlier ones with which Brahmans had nothing to do are in 
a sort of Pali. 

These facts lead me to surmise that the legend of Parasurama as 
recorded in the Aranyaparvan cannot be earlier than the second century 
after Christ, when we find the first records as to grants of land made to 
Br&hmans. 


5. Modern Tr\ditions about Parasurama. 


Whereas, we arc told, in the Aranyapawan that after the extirpation 
of the Kshatriya race, Parasurama made a gift of the whole earth to 


(17) See, Rhys David’s Buddhist India, p. 60. 

(18) See, Rhys David’s Buddhist India, pp. 150—151. 



• no 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


Kasyapa himself retiring to Mt. Mahendra. We find in the Santiparvan 
that Kashyapa after receiving the earth from Parasurama, did not allow 
the latter to remain in his realm, but sent him over to the Southern Ocean, 
whereupon the sea receded and a new land was created for him to live, 
called Sfirparaka. It may be of interest to note here, that a tradition is 
still current in the Konkanadcsh,( 19) the land of the Koukana Brahmans, 
that their laud was taken out of the sea by Parasurama when Kashyapa 
sent him away from his own kingdom. Parasurama, it is said, performed 
here a sacrifice to conduct which he had to create Brahmans. There still 
exists a village in the Ratnagiri district with the name of Sri-Parasurdma, 
where there is a temple dedicated to him. (20) 

Another tradition of the same type is current in Kerala , a long stretch 
of land extending from Kokarnam to Kumarin (Cape Comorin). (21) The 
Brahmans of Kerala , called the Nambutiris, are mostly the owners 
of land, who trace their title to its sole ownership to the original grant by 
Parasurama, the incarnation of Vishnu ! According to the their own 
tradition these Brdhmans were brought by Parasurama from the banks of 
teh Krishna and the Godavari, (22) while there is also another tradition to 
the effect that they were brought from Samantapanchaka (or Kuril- 
kshetra) t ( 23) after Parasurama offered oblation to his departed forefathers 
from the fi ve lakes of the blood of the exterminated Kshatriyas.fszj) 

These Brahmans might have been originally a group of colonists from 
the north, who first settled on the banks of the Godavari and the Krishna, 
and afterwards migrated through Gokarnam into Kerala , and farther south. 
Probably a branch of the same colonists might have gone along the source 
of the Godavari (which is not far from Stirpdraka or Sop para) to the 
Konkanadesa that lies along the Western Sea. While the Nasik cave 


(19) The Konkana land is situated within the limits of the Presidency of 
Bombay, extending from the Portuguese settlement of Goa (near Gokarnam) on 
the south, to the territory of Daman on the north. It mav be estimated at 300 miles 
in length with an average breadth of about 40 miles ; (Encyclopaedia Britanica, 
Vol. XV, p. 896). 

(20) I am indebted to my class-mate Mr. G. B. B/jpat, B.A., himself a Konkana 
Brahman, for kindly giving me this information. 

(21) Kerala comprises the north and the south Kdnaras, British Malabdr, 
Cochin and Travaticore. 

(22) This tradition has been recorded in a Sanskrit work, that goes by the 
name re Kerala~Mdhdtmya/ , which is considred to be very sacred and which exists 
in manuscripts in every ancient home of Kerala . I have been able to go through 
a MS. belonging to the Pdliyam Family , and have found the above tradition in its 
XI adhydya. 

(23) This tradition is recorded in a Malays lam work of ancient traditions, called 
" Keralotpatti (See, the Trichur Edition of 1086 M. E.) 

(24) Vide, Malmbhdrata, Aranyaparvan, adhydya 117, vv. 9—10; Adiparvan, 
adhydya 2, vv. 4 — 5. 




April, 1924] 


THE PARAS UR AM A TRADITION 


III 


inscriptions, (25) near Sur pataka , prove tliat Brahmans had settled there 
about the second century A. D., the inscriptions of Kdkusthavarman(26) of 
the Kadamba dynasty indicate a settlement of Brahmans south of Gokarnam 
somewhere about the fifth century A. D., and also the approximate time 
of the advent of Brdhmanism into those countries. 

6 . Parasurama in Mythology . 

A considerable time must have elapsed before Parasurdma came to be 
included among the ten popular avatar**' of Vishnu. We know for certain 
that nowhere in the Mahdbhduua, nor in the Rdmdyana, is Parasurdma 
described as an incarnation of Vishnu, Only when we come to the time 
of the Purdnas do we find Parasurdma included among the avatdras. 

It seems curious that Parasurama should be considered an avatdra of 
Vishnu, rather than of Siva. Nowhere in the Mahdbhdraia or in the 
Rdmdyana, not even in the Visnupurdna or in the B hagava i apura n a are 
we told that Parasurama was a devotee of Ndrdyana or Vasudeva, while 
we find in almost all the versions of the legend dealing with him some 
passage or other reperring to his connection with Siva or Mahadcva. In 
the Sdntiparvan , for instance (see adhydya 49. v. 33), Parasurdma is said 
to have propitiated Mahadeva and obtained, among other things, the 
irresistible axe ( parasu ), from which his name is derived. In the 
Karnaparvan ( adhydya 34. vv. 128 — 154) there is a long passage relating 
how Parasurdma served Mahadeva in order to obtain divine weapons from 
him. Parasurdma^ dreadful wrath provoked at the breaking of Siva’s 
dhanus (bow) by Ramachandra, is described in the Rdmdyana ( Bafakanda , 
adhydya 74). In the Keralamdhdlmya, again, we have a .story which 
speaks of the connection of Parasurama with Mahadeva. (27) Here, we are 
told that Parasurdma, after depriving himself of all the earth by presenting 
it to the Brahmans, retired to mount Kaildsa, and propitiated Siva in order 
to procure from him a land to live in. Sfva, pleased with his devotion, 
sent his own son Kumara to his help, in order to induce the ocean to cede 
a portion of land to Rdma. They both w r ent over to the Southern region 
( daksinam disam ), and after a great struggle managed to extort a strip, 
of land from Varuna on the west-coast, extending from Kumarin to 
Gokarnam. In the tenth adhydya of the Mdhdtmya it is related, how 

(25) Vide, Epigraphica Indica, Vol. VIII, p. 7S. 

(26) Vide, Epigraphica fndica, Vol. VIII, p. 32- . 

(27) The story given below is narrated in the 5th, 6th and the 7th adhy£yas or 
the Keralamdhdtmya, 


112 


THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Vaisakh, 1331 


Parasurama erected a temple at Gpkarnam dedicated to Mahadeva. These 
stories show that Parasurama was devoted almost exclusively to Siva and 
not to Vishnu. Moreover his repeated extermination of the Kshatriyas is 
more in line with the activities of Mahadeva, the destroyer (Samharaka ) ! 

Mr. Nar&yana Aiyangar of Mysore, the author of “Essays on Indo- 
Aryan Mythology, ” (part II p. 351) points out several points of similarity 
between the stories about Agni’s son Kumara or Skanda and those about 
YamadagnPs son Rama. He says (pp. 372-373) that '“phenomenally 
Parasurama was Chandras&rya, who killed the moon and the stars with 
his superior light,” and that “the Kshatriyas killed by Rama were only 
the Na-Kshatras”. And, further, “the enemy slain by Kumara being 
Asura Mahisha according to one account and Taraka according to another, 
Arjuna, who was put to death by Rama must have been the moon, the 
lord of stars, and his capital was called Mdhishmati * \ This does not seem 
to me very plausible. Kumara or Skanda, with his six heads and twelve 
arms, born of the wives the seven Rishis in adultery with Agni, appears 
to be more of a mythological character, while Parasurama is but the son of 
a hermit, born in wedlock. Moreover, while Kumara is represented to 
have fought only once with the demon Mahisha, with the help of a large 
retinue of Kumdras and Ku nidi is, Parasurama battled singlehanded with 
his irresistible weapons to root out an entire race. 

7. The Modern cult of Parasurama. 

However, there is no doubt that Parasurama is now believed to be the 
sixth incarnation of Vishnu. I have already mentioned that in Kerala the 
Brahmans worship Parasurama, and are specially devoted to him. On a 
particular day in the month of January or February, the Nambfitiri 
Brahmans, one and all, observe the Parasurama- fay anti celebration. There 
arc other places too, in India, where Parasurama is worshipped, in diverse 
ways. In Assam, on the eastern border of Laksliimpur district, there is a 
pool in the Brahmaputra river known by the name of Brahmakund . This 
pool has been formed at a spot where the river emerges from the mountains, 
and is flanked on both sides by hills. Parasurama is said to have 
surrendered at this pool the axe with which he destroyed the Kshatriyas, 
and it is in consequence visited by Hindu pilgrims from every part of 
India. (28) 

(28) Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. IX, p. 8. 


April, 1924] THE PAKASURAMA TRADITION 113 

Kundian is a village in the state of Udaipur, in R&japuiana, situated 
about 50 miles u'orth-east of the city. Here are many temples, and a pool 
there called Matri-Kundian is celebrated as the place where the sins of 
Parasurama were washed away on his bathing in its waters. A fair, 
lasting for three days, is held in May and is largely attended by pilgrims 
who bathe in the pool. (29) 

There is a sacred pool at Gokarnam, said .0 have been dedicated by 
Parasurama to vSiva. Another pool in Kumarin, attributed to Kumara son 
of Siva, is considered vciy sacred, by bathing in which according to the 
Kerala mdhdtmy a , Parasurama had to purify himself before lie could make 
the request to Varuna to yield up a portion of land. 

Near the Kangra district, in the Panjab, there stands a temple dedicated 
to Parasurama, in which was deposited a copper- plate deed of grant in 
Sanskrit (probably of A. D. 612-613), recording the assignment of the 
village to Brahmans studying the Alharvavcda.($ o) 

Again, in an old village in the Bijapur district, Bomba}", there is an 
axe-shaped rock on the river-bank in commemoration of Parasurama, who 
is said to have washed his axe on the spot after his destruction of the 
Kshatriya race. On a rock in the river Parasurama \s foot-prints are shown. 
Near by is a five old temple of Ramlivg.( 31) 

Tu a village, in the native state of Mysore, there is a temple to Parasti, 
the irresistible axe of Parasurama. The ancient name of the village is said 
to be B ti&rgav apin a. ($2) 


S. Conclusion. 

To recapitulate before concluding : 

Firstly, we find that the name Parasurama is not mentioned in the 
Veda, but some are inclined to identity him with Rama-Margaveya, the 
descendant of Mrigu. 

Secondly, the story of Parasurama as given in the Aranyaparvan of 
the Mahdbhdrata differs considerably from (hat of the Sdnliparvan, the only 
reason that may be adduced being the interval of probably not less than a 
century between the two legends. 

(29) Imperial Gazetteer of India, VoJ. XVI, p. 26. 

(30) Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. XIX, p. 124. 

(31) Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. V, p. 129. 

(32) Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. XIII, p. 148. 



H4 


THE VISVA-BHARAlT QUARTERLY [ Vaisakh, 1331 


Thirdly, the two points which are practically common to all the 
versions of the Parasurama legend are (?) that Parasurama exterminated 
the Kshatriyas ; and ( it ) that after ridding the earth of them he offered the 
whole of it to the Brahmans. 

This points to the strained relationship which once existed between the 
two tipper classes ; and which at last terminated in the acknowledgement 
of the Brahman supremacy by the Kshatriyas, whereby was brought to 
an end a prolonged struggle between the priests and the nobles, — a struggle 
that can be traced back historically even to pre-Buddistic times. 

Fourthly, for this reason, and by reason of the epigraphical evidence 
as t.o grants of land to Br&hmans, the time of the first version of the legend, 
as recorded in the Aranyaparvan, may be put at about the end of the second 
century after Christ, the two others consecutively coming considerably later. 

Fifthly, the land of Surparaka , which, according to the SAntiparvm , 
was the last retreat of Parasurama, may be identified with the modem 
vSoppara in the Bombay presidency, and which may also be considered at 
least as old as, probably older than, (33) the Nasik cave inscriptions of 
the second century A. D., where it is mentioned as Sotparaga). 

Sixthly, and lastly, we have seen that Parasurama was originally in 
no way connected with Vishnu, but has always been described as a great 
devotee of Siva; but, lately he came to be included among the popular 
avataras of Vishnu and is still worshipped as such by Vaislmavitcs. 

(33) The author of tlic Periplus of the Erythraean v Sea, who came to India in the 
second or the third century after Christ, mentions Suppara ns a market-town on 
the west-coast; (see SchofPs English Translation of 1912, p. 43b It is said to have 
been the capital of the Konkana as early as 500 B.C. According to Buddhist writers, 
Gautama Buddha, in one of his former births, was a Bodhijsattvn of Soppara. Jain 
writers make frequent mention of Soppgra ; (see, Imperial Gazetteer of India, 
Vol. XXIII, p. 87). 








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THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY 


Vol. II. JULY, 1924 No. 2 


THE EAST IN THE WEST 

By C. F Andrews. 

Although Europe owes so much to the Greeks in the intellec- 
tual and spiritual spheres, especially in that region of artistic 
creation where pure thought and lucid imagination meet, yet the 
Greek mind, with one singular and hitherto unexplained excep- 
tion, dwelt rather upon that which was perfect in proportion than 
that which was beyond all limits. 

The exception was Plato. He draws nearest of all among the 
Greeks to the mind of India. For he is never content merely 
with the earthly perfection which is visible and to be reached by 
human endeavour. He is ever seeking for that ‘heavenly city, 
which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.’ 

The essential Greek mind came back with a rebound in 
Aristotle, so sane, so balanced in every subject that he touches, 
but always falling short of that idealism, to which Plato gave the 
very name we still use to-day. We might, without any incon- 
gruity, imagine Plato taking his abode among the forest dwellers 
of ancient India ; declaring with them : Listen to me, ye 
children of the Immortal, I have seen Him , the Infinite Perso- 
nality, that is beyond Time and Place. But we can scarcely 
dream of Aristotle, the realist, dwelling for long in that atmos- 
phere. Some passages in the Greek dramatic poets breathe the 
same air as Plato, but it is not so marked in them as it is in him. 

The Age of Pericles, which was the crown cf the Greek 
Period in human history, owed much of its distinction to this 
sense of finite proportion in human affairs. The lines of the 
architecture of the Parthenon have this proportion always in view. 




II 6 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Sravana , 1331 

There is 110 leading architec tural line soaring upward to the skies, 
like those in some of the greatest Hindu temples and in the Gothic 
cathedral spires. To take another sphere of art, where the Greeks 
equally excelled, the beauty of the Greek sculpture is in the 
contour of the perfect physical form of man and woman, 
realised in white marble without a flaw in the technique. The 
restraint of the treatment is so severe that there is little place 
for idealistic flights of the imagination, as in Hindu sculpture. 

The same is true in other subjects. Drama, for instance, 
where once more the Greeks were able to produce a perfect vehicle 
of art, was controlled b}?- the dramatic unities that strictly limited 
the field of action. The Muse of History again, to give one more 
example out of many, when at last she finds her highest exponent 
in Thucydides, not only creates a form which can never be 
surpassed, but eschews fable and legend with an exactness that 
would have satisfied the standards of modern science. Indeed, 
as we shall see later, modern science itself, with its realistic out- 
look upon life, is in a very true sense the greatest after-product 
of the Greek mind. 

These wonderful children of antiquity, whose intellect had 
reached a clarity concerning the visible world which has rarely, 
if ever, been equalled, shrank back from the infinite and the 
unlimited as though afraid to venture forward into the darkness. 
It is a very strange limitation ; and it surprises one ever more 
and more in the Greeks, when one comes back to them after 
Indian studies. 

Still stranger does it become, when one considers the 
character of Odysseus in the second great epic ascribed to Homer. 
He is the typical Greek, wise and many-thoughted, who has gone 
to the verge of the unknown. But here we find that even he 
shrinks back. There are limits which in his daring adventure 
he may not cross. He stands at the head of the race, in the dawn 
of its history, both as an example of its astonishing temerity and 
its no less astonishing reticence, sanity and proportion. 

Recent archaeological researches have shown us against what 
a background of mad passion and insensate fear this sanity stood 
out in daily life. The art of Sophocles was created out of the 
raw material of the revels of the Dicnysiac festival. It repre- 



July, 1924 ] TilE EAST IN THK WEST 1 1 7 

sented their sublimation rather than their repression. The 
Bacchae of Euripides shows us for a moment that frenzy let loose. 
The object of the dramatist, as Aristotle finely described it in 
well-known words, was to cleanse the human mind through fear 
and pity. We can see the same restraint in the dramatic rule 
that the gruesome deed of murder should never be enacted on the 
stage. 

It is true, that this supremely sane outlook of the Greeks 
saved them from gross irrationalisms and superstitions. To the 
Greek mind at Athens, as the plays of Aristophanes show clearly, 
the older legends of the gods and goddesses had become objects of 
laughter and satire rather than belief. But there is a nemesis 
in human affairs, which always follows close upon the heels of 
finite perfection. The Greek genius was amazingly short-lived. 
It is true that its results persisted. But its achievements were 
crowded into one glorious century ; and then the blossom faded. 
We have not been able again to reach that exquisite completeness, 
which marked Athens at its prime ; but in many other ways we 
have advanced far further and discovered things of which the 
Athenian intellect never even dreamt. 

It would be true, perhaps, to suggest that Europe to-day, 
with its new world -problems of psychology, philosophy, and 
religion, which have to be dealt with one by one, has more to 
learn from ancient India than from ancient Greece. We may 
even venture to predict that the present century in Europe will 
draw its greatest sources of new knowledge from India and the 
East in all the matters pertaining to the human soul. If this 
proves to be true, the reason will be, not that Greece is ever to 
be challenged afresh in her own sphere, but rather because, along 
with the growth of the conception of human personality, and of 
the universe as pervaded by one divine spiritual life, we shall 
necessarily turn away from the Greeks. 

If we look along other channels that flowed into the West 
and helped to form the reservoir of human thought in the ancient 
classical w r orld of Europe, we shall find that this limited outlook 
of the Greeks was not confined to them alone. It is not necessary 
to dwell long upon the Roman mind, with its solidly practical, 



ii 8 THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Srauana, 1331 

utilitarian account of the universe as a fit place to live in . That 
mind was obviously mundane, and the exceptions were very 
few indeed. A strange cross-fertilisation with the Stoicism of 
the Greeks produced some rare plants in this barren soil. Idea- 
lism in Marcus Aurelius is more pronounced than in any other 
ancient, since the days of Plato. We note the exception, but it 
only proves the rule of the essential Roman limitation of spiritual 
vision and their concentration on secular affairs. 

We come to a more debatable area, when we consider the 
Jews, as they entered into the life of the Roman Empire. I11 
spite- of much in the Old Testament, which clearly passes into the 
unseen, we are learning afresh every day, as we examine more 
carefully the Jewish records, how limited, as in the case of 
Rome, their conceptions were. The great exceptions come here 
in the Prophets and the Psalms ; and these have formed the spiri- 
tual nourishment of the Christian Church. But the average 
Jewish outlook upon life had gradually hardened into a legal 
ceremonial code, which shut out by a dead wall of barren morality 
the conception of the Infinite. The ‘perfect’ man, at the time of 
Christ, was the Jew who kept, day by day, the routine of the moral 
code of commandments, never swerving to the right hand or to 
the left. God’s favour was supposed to be confined to one race, 
the Jewish race. This whole attitude led in its turn to an almost 
‘classical’ tradition, if we may so use the word, which was moral 
rather than artistic and far less beautiful than that of the Greeks, 
though possessing a certain finite attractiveness of its own. 


2. 

The strange volcanic upheaval caused by the Christian Revo- 
lution consisted in this, that it tore away from its foundations, 
with a shock of tremendous explosion, this classical life of man 
in the Mediterranean area. For the Christian Faith started out 
at once on its romantic career, uprooting, destroying and obliterat- 
ing like an earthquake all boundaries which man had reared up 
during the past ages in order to shut out the terrors of the un- 
known. It revelled in the unseen and the extreme, and even 
at times the bizarre. 



July, 1924] 


THE HAST ]N THE WEST 


1X9 


Ail emaciated form, writhing upon a gibbet, called a Cross, 
shocked the artistic sensibilities of tlie Greek world, just as the 
cry of unlimited forgiveness which came from His lips in death 
shattered all the legal ideas of righteousness among the Jews. 
“We preach Christ crucified,” said St. Paul, “to the Jews, a 
stumbling-block ; to the Greeks, foolishness ; but unto them which 
are called, Christ, the power of God gnd the wisdom of God. 
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weak- 
ness of God is stronger than man.” 

This was a Revolution indeed, in the midst of so much sane 
and settled life ! Into the Roman world of law and order and 
security : into the Greek world of limited artistic perfection : 
into tlie Jewish world of justice based on exact requital, this strange 
portent came, with its transposition of all values and its un- 
swerving gaze upon the infinite. ‘The things that are seen’ said 
St. Paul, explaining the message, ‘are temporal : but the things 
that are unseen are eternal. ’ This cry from the East had reached 
the West in many forms before ; but this time it came with the 
fulness cf spiritual power. 

There can be little doubt as to whence this new upheaval 
ultimately originated. It sprang from the East itself, where the 
unseen and the eternal had absorbed the souls of men for long 
ages past. Other Eastern cults had crossed the border and gained 
an entrance into the Mediterranean area. They had failed, but 
this succeeded. While it overleaped the classical limitations of 
the Greek, the Roman and the Jew, and appeared at first sight to 
represent an amazing travesty of all true proportion, revelling in 
exaggerations more fantastic than the Orpheus cult, which formed 
its most serious rival, yet it soon proved itself to possess a higher 
wisdom of its own which was able to meet the needs of the age 
and win acceptance. 

Though clearly not the outcome of Judaea alone, it had its 
roots in the Jewish religion and absorbed the teaching of the 
Psalms and Prophets. While it had no intimate relation to the 
classical tradition of the Greeks, yet it was able to find in Plato’s 
writings a preeposatio evangelic a and it soon began to express its 
own ideas of the Infinite in Plato’s language. Though the Roman 
Empire instinctively persecuted the new faith, fearing its rival 



120 THE VlSVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

strength, yet the Stoic outlook upon the universe, which held the 
minds of the greatest Romans, became appropriated by Chris- 
tianity. It began, almost at once, to use the well-worn aphorisms 
of the Stoics just as it also used the sentences of Plato and the 
Hebrew Prophets. 

I would wish to break off at this point and state in a paren- 
thesis that historical criticism and research have yet to give a final 
answer to the questions, which have already been adumbrated in 
this paper, — how, for instance, Plato himself is related to the 
East; how far the Stoics, starting from the extreme south-eastern 
corner of Asia-minor, had come under the sphere of Eastern 
thought; how far the Christian Faith itself is an Eastern product, 
tracing its origin not only back to Judsea, but to India, — the home 
of the religions of the East. If I might venture to give my own 
tentative opinion, formed after many years of patient revision of 
thoughts and experiences and tentative conclusions, I regard 
it as probable that a far greater Eastern element is contained in 
primitive Christianity than I had previously imagined. It was 
not without justification that the Roman Empire regarded it as 
an ‘Eastern Cult,’ and compared it with other Eastern faiths 
which had advanced westward. 

At first, it hardly seemed likely that a new philosophy of 
religion would develop out of the new experience of these early 
Christians. We have seen how profoundly un-Jewish that ex- 
perience was, and also how un-Greek and un-Roman. The 
Christian doctrine of the Cross, — of suffering without limit and 
without retaliation, which was there vividly and immediately 
represented, — was repugnant to classical antiquity. We have to 
go to the early Buddhist Scriptures for such idealism of suffering 
and sacrifice, embodied in a whole soqjetv, and not merely in 
exceptional individuals. Therefore it had very little ‘atmosphere’ 
at first in the West : it was a thing strange and outlandish. It 
seemed likely to follow the course of other Oriental mysteries, 
which had come westward, and to appeal only to the vulgar 
crowd. 

But two remarkable writers at a very early date fulfilled this 
miracle of approximation, — St. Paul and St. John. They were 
able, by personality and genius of the very highest order, to link 



July, 1024] 


THF, K AST IN THK WEST 


121 


the primitive Christian thought, on the one hand to the passages 
in the Jewish scriptures which spoke of an infinite redeeming value 
in suffering itself, and on the other hand to tlie idealism of Plato 
and the Stoics. The crown of this new philosophy of life was 
reached in the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel and in the conclusion 
of the same writer’s Epistles, that ‘God is Love.’ Here is a 
point where religion and philosophy, ethics and metaphysics, 
meet and combine. 

If we go back for a brief moment to the spiritual thoughts of 
the East that were prevalent in religion outside the Mediter- 
ranean area before the birth of Christ, we shall find the same 
conception of the Divine Nature as ultimately ‘Love’ developed 
slowly by human experience. It was faintly outlined in that 
most precious age of religious thought, the Upanishad period, 
which had declared : He manifests Ilis immortal form as Joy, 
--where the word ‘Joy’ contains much of the context of the 
word ‘Love’ as used by St. John. But it is in the early Buddhist, 
and in the Jain, doctrine of Ahimsa, that the teaching is 
made fruitful in practical life. The phrase, “The crown of all 
religion is Ahimsa” is indeed a great landmark in the religious 
history of the human race. This doctrine of Ahimsa, to a remark- 
able degree, ran a parallel course to that conception of Love in 
Christianity, which “sufferetli long and is kind, envieth not, 
vaunteth not itself, tliinketh no evil” ; it has not yet reached its 
limits, as we can see in new religious movements in India to-day. 

The sudden impact of the Christian Revolution on the West, 
which carried with it some of the atmosphere of Eastern mystical 
religion, resulted in a remarkable revival of Platonism under 
Porphyry and Plotinus at Alexandria. This Neo-Platonism, as 
it was called, was to affect profoundly the later history of human 
thought. It left a deep mark upon Christianity itself. 

Before Neo-Platonism arose, the direct touch with India had 
been well-established by the Christian Church. Pantaenus and 
Origen, two of the Greek Fathers, had each of them obtained 
definite knowledge and experience about India. Pantaenus left 
the highest academic position in Alexandria to visit India in 
person. He brought back manuscripts and also records of 
Christians who had already settled there. This was before the 



122 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


end of the second century A.D. Therefore it is not unlikely 
that the Neo-Platonists, in their turn, were constantly in touch 
with the spiritual teaching of the East and drew largely from it 
in their mystical religious teaching. 

It is a strangely pathetic and lonely figure, — St. Augustine, 
— which closes this chapter of classical antiquity, as it yielded 
stubbornly but inevitably to the Christian Faith. Torn by 
repentance and doubt, exalted by hope and faith and love, him- 
self one of the tenderest souls that ever breathed, standing out 
above the wreckage of the classical age, he gave to the West, 
more than any other single man, those central terms of its new 
religious philosophy which still remain paramount in the modern 
age. In his search after God, he sought also to fathom the 
infinite depths of human personality and to find there a true 
reflection of the divine. In this ardent mystical quest, by a 
singularly different route, but all the while aiming to reach the 
same goal, he comes nearest of all to Plotinus. 

This intuitive vision of the Infinite carries us on the one 
hand back to the profound thinkers of the East and, on the other, 
forward to much of the new psychology of this modern age. 
His ardent and passionate longing for the presence of God in the 
soul which could never be satisfied with the perfection of this 
present world, shows us how far we have travelled from the 
antique classical finite aim of the Greeks and Romans. He 
stands at the portal of those realms of Christian romance, which 
were the dream of the Middle Ages — those ‘Ages of Faith’ in 
Europe, wherein myth and legend made up the daily life and 
experience of vast masses of mankind, and the solid earth, with 
its attractions of the flesh, was left far behind by multitudes 
in the search for the Holy Grail and the Divine Bliss. 

3 - 

Following out, very rapidly indeed, the course of these Ages 
of Faith, as they affect our present subject, we find how, in 
the midst of much that was formal and crude and literal and 
coarse in spiritual texture, there were in every generation tender 
and refined souls who sought to follow St. Augustine along the 



July , 1924] 


THE EAST IN THE WEST 


123 


mystical way, and to sound the depths of the human spirit in its 
search for God, approaching with awe and wonder the infinite 
ideal. They climbed painfully but triumphantly the ascent 
which they learnt to call the Scala Perfectionis , — the steep 
pathway or stair-case of the soul, which led to the Beatific 
Vision. The “purgation” with which it began, led on to 
“illumination”, and lastly to “union” in which it found its goal. 

Their search for inward truth led the* 1 also, like St. 
Augustine before them, to enter the inner depths of their own 
personality and to seek out the soul’s direct relation to the 
universe and God. St. Benedict, St. Barnard, Abelard, St. 
Francis, Dante, Thomas a Kempis, each (if these in varying 
degree and mode represents during these “Ages of Faith” this 
passionate search for infinite truth. Not seldom they neglect 
and despise the intellectual light altogether and fail to 
realise its vital purpose as a true guide to the soul. But deep 
down in the consciousness of man a new range of human thought 
was being examined and explored. We, in this modern age, are 
now seeking to gather in the treasure, which they have left 
behind. When we compare it with the mysticism of the Fast, 
we discover a new and beautiful kinship. It is perhaps the age 
when the West most nearly approached the East in the realm 
of spiritual thought. 

Amid all this that was pointing to higher regions of the 
spirit yet un reached, there was another side in these Middle 
Ages of Europe which led to a reaction : for there was a flaw 
at the base of Christianity itself as conceived in the West. The 
lomantic element in the Christian Faith, as we have seen, could 
not arrive at any compromise with the ancient classical world. 

The artistic proportion of the Greeks, which had given an 
external unity to matter and spirit, soul and form, broke up 
before the new intensive moral idealism of the Christian Faith, 
that knew no limit to the powers of sacrifice and devotion and 
counted all the world as dross that it might win Christ. At the 
same time, this Christian ideal itself went to excess and extra- 
vagance. It raised more difficulties than it could by its own 
power resolve. Deep down in its very inmost structure, as we 
see from St. Paul’s Epistles, there was a perpetual conflict 



124 THE VIS VA -BHARAT I QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

between matter and spirit, unresolved and seemingly unresolv- 
able, a dualism that was profound. Throughout the Middle 
Ages, this war between the soul and the flesh was carried on 
with an unrelenting zeal. It gave rise to dogmas, which made 
havoc of sane thinking, and led to abnormalities and excesses 
which rendered impossible the healthy intellectual growth of 
mankind. 

4. 

The thinking mind of Europe could, in the end, no longer 
bear the strain of this fantastic idealism ; this perpetual other- 
worldly outlook which never reached the truth. It swung back, 
on the full tide of the Classical Renaissance, to the frank 
acceptance of the mundane standard of values, and of the finite 
classical conception of virtue, as engaged only with the present 
earthly existence, leaving the future as unknown. The roman- 
tic element was freely thrown aside. Men determined to obey 
priests and popes no longer. They prepared to live in the 
present, enjoy the present, and be pagan in their outlook once 
more. Even cardinals and popes themselves joined in the 
reaction, when it reached its highest flood point, sweeping away 
all the great landmarks of the Middle Ages in Church and State 
alike. 

In one sense, the Modern Age of Europe, which followed 
upon the Medieval Age, has meant a return to realism and a 
weakening of the idealist outlook upon life. The earlier dis- 
coveries of modern science have been made by the concentration 
of the human mind upon reason and experiment, and the aban- 
donment of the pathway of direct intuition as a source of 
knowledge. Thus, in more senses than one, a revival of the 
classics has taken place. In all this process, there can be little 
doubt that the West has drifted further and further away from 
its spiritual basis in the unseen. 

Yet even in the West, the romantic element had not been 
altogether left behind during the Age of Reason, which followed 
the Classical Renaissance. In the Eighteenth Century, it gave 
birth to the enthusiastic movement known as the Evangelical 
Revival, which brought into the homes of the poorest a mystical 



July, 1Q24] 


THE EAST IN THE WEST 


!25 


faith, transforming and purifying in its effects. George Fox and 
the Society of Friends represented another range of mystical 
religious thought and life. In Germany, also, there dawned a 
new illumination, that eagerly availed itself of every ray of light 
from the East, and began once more to follow the pathway of 
intuition as a means to attain truth. Philosophy, with due rever- 
ence, was set up boldly upon its throne ; and renewed search into 
unexplored regions of the human mind brought fresh facts and 
experiences to light. 

In the Nineteenth Century the Modern Age of Science began. 
The Christian Church, which had bound itself hard and fast with 
i: rational dogmas and creeds, could not at first cut itself loose, 
and make the fearless appeal of free mystical religion to every 
faculty of man to join in the search for truth. A fatal conflict 
went on, all through the century, between intellect and faith. 
Science became more and more abstracted from religion, and 
philosophy took the same precipitous course. While great gains 
have been achieved in certain directions by such abstractions, 
great losses have also ensued. The wholeness of life has been 
lost sight of, and humanity itself has been divided into compart- 
ments. 

The conception of the universe in Europe, governed by the 
postulates of science, has tended to become rather that of an 
infinite series and a never-ceasing flux, than that of a spiritual 
ideal being realised under conditions of space and time. The 
imagination of the modern man is taught by science to picture 
the crash of systems and the wreck of worlds in an endless 
sequence. The infinitely great and the infinitely small in nature 
have been revealed to man’s naked gaze as never before, but the 
mind and the spirit find no rest in all these bewildering dis- 
coveries. Modern men frequently retire f r om them, jaded and 
worn, to the limited ideal of ancient Greece, and say : “Let us 
leave the infinite alone ; it can never be fathomed . Let us perfect 
that which we know and beautify the world in which we live.” 

The new age still gropes for that spiritual vision of the 
Infinite which is satisfying, not terrifying and morbid ; that 
\ ision which alone can unify the world. But as yet there has not 



126 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Smyrna, 1331 


been fashioned in the West any such comprehensive philosophy, 
as will meet the true demands of religion and science alike, and 
bring a new unity to mankind. 

In the present turmoil and confusion in Europe after the 
Great War, which shook the confidence and pride of the West, 
there are very many earnest souls who are looking more and more 
wistfully to the East. Thejr seek to discover whether the 
harmony between religion and science on the one hand, and 
science and philosophy on the other, may not be found in that 
eastern quarter of the globe which has hitherto been for the most 
part outside the field of European research. 

Already, the resources of the classical West, as we have seen, 
have been examined, and tried again and again, and found 
wanting. The Christian Faith has also been tried with varying 
success. And in recent years it has been found too tightly 
bound by ecclesiastical dogmas to give any prospect that it will 
suddenly unloose itself and come forth with new strength un- 
fettered for the great task that lies before us. Therefore, man’s 
thoughts are travelling elsewhere , H and the culture and civilisation 
of the world are seen to be far vaster than European insularity 
ever deemed. 

One thing is practically certain. The old isolation of the 
different cultures and religions of the world, which was originally 
in a great measure geographical, is now rapidly vanishing away. 
The different currents of thought and life among the races of 
mankind have to be made to flow into one another in the future. 
Channels of intercommunication must be cut. The romantic 
and idealistic element, which is still strong in the religions of the 
East, must be brought into closer contact with the classical and 
realistic element, which came back to modern Europe with the 
Renaissance and has dominated European thought ever since. 
Only thus can the spiritual conception of the Universe, which is 
innate in the consciousness of mankind, in East and West alike, 
find its true setting and its full expression. 



THE EAST IS MY LOVE. 


The East is my love. 

I have taken her to dwell in my wild, throbbing heart, f.or there is sanctuary. 
There she has her throne, built up of golden thought; and sacred memories, 

And studded with bright gems of kindly deeds 

* & 

My love brings sadness m her train 

She is so beautiful, with that perfected beauty which is born 
Of inner holiness and unsmirched mind : 

As though the radiance of aier God-given soul had pierced the armour 
of her outer being 
To dwell for ever in her lovely face. 

Her dewy eyes are as the depths of unknown seas, 

Her wine-hued mouth is pregnant with great utterances, 

Her night-black hair is as a silken mantle 
To hide her perfect form from alien view. 

And from her sauness springs an untold joy, the joy of faith 
and spiritual dreams, 

For those who dwell not in the glare of stark modernity’s soul-blinding light. 
The feebleness of little words betrays me, when I would most give 
eloquence its vent 
In praising of my love. 

F cannot preach Forgetfulness of Self, who am so full of Self 
In calling her my love. 

Yet would I have her loved bj r all the world, enshrined in ev’ry heart, 
The beacon-ray of ev’ry lonely soul, the spirit-guiding influence, 
that tempers 

Humanity grown callous and debauched. 

tl: * * 

The East is my love. 

I have taken her to dwell in my wild, throbbing hekrt, 

And none shall penetrate this secret dwelling-place, 

Save those only who love her as myself. 

No hand shall wrench us twain apart, my love and I. 

For we are One in endless unity with God. 

Gwendoline Goodwin. (Saki). 



SIKH IDEALS. 


By Prof. K. M. Panikkar. 

Though Sikhism is essentially a product of Hindu culture, 
yet, as religion, it affirms certain important principles which are 
not indeed incompatible with Hinduism, but are generally con- 
sidered to be against Hindu practice. The Sikhs are strong 
monotheists and no Sikh may believe in a plural ity of gods. 
Again the Sikh social structure contemplates no caste system, 
though by association with Hinduism caste has come to be a 
factor as much among the Sikhs as among other Hindu sects. 
The Sikhs worship no idols, their Gurudwaras being merely 
temples where the Granth Sahib is regularly read. 

Sikhism, in fact, is a simple religion with but few dogmas 
and no complicated theology. Like Buddhism it is a religion 
which puts the greatest emphasis on good and upright conduct 
and not on faiths and beliefs. 

Truth is the highest of all virtues, but true life is even higher. 

I have consulted the four Vedas, but those writings find not God’s 
limits. 

I have consulted the four books of the Muhammadans but all God’s 
work is not described in them. 

And I, Nanak, say man shall be true to his faith if he fears God and 
does good works. 

Thus says Nanak; and, unlike Hinduism, Buddhism and 
Jainism, the simple principles preached by him have riot so far 
been thickly overlaid by a tangle of wild metaphysical specula- 
tion. Probably the shortness of the period during which Sikhism 
has had independent existence, — between the death of Guru 
Govind Singh and now there have elapsed only two centuries, — 
accounts for this. The rustic hardihood of the Jats, from whom 
the Sikhs have been mainly recruited, had perhaps also its share 
in keeping the religion of Guru Govind a simple faith with no 
formularies and rituals. 

Whatever the reason, one of the chief features of Sikhism is, 
that it is a religion without a priesthood, without a theology and 



July, 1924 ] 


SIKH IDEALS 


129 


to a large extent without a philosophy of its own. The philoso- 
phical background of Sikhism is entirely Hindu. It accepts all 
the distinctive thought of the Vedanta, not only in its monotheism 
but in the idea of Karma, Mayd, and the uuknowableness of the 
Godhead. Salvation is accepted as Nirvana, freedom from re- 
birth, and the idea of transmigration is at the very root, of Sikh 
religion. In the Japji itself — the daily pray or book of the Sikhs 

— there are many direct allusions to this : 

* 

By His orders some obtain Nirvana: by His orders others must ever 
wander in transmigration. 

They who are outside Thy favour line! no entrance and wander in many 
births. 

Again the idea of Karma . as being the one supreme test, is 
of the very essence of Sikhism : “Bear, O my soul, the result 
of thine own acts”, says Nanak. 

It is clear enough on examination that, though the indepen- 
dence of Sikhism as a religion is undeniable, its whole philosophy 
is based cu orthodox Hindu thought. More than this, the Sikhs 
accept as a whole the main traditions of Hindu mythology. In 
the Japji appears the following passage : 

One Maya in union with Cod gave birth to three acceptable children. 
( >ne of them is the Creator, the second is the Provider, the third performeth 
the function of the Destroyer. 

Guru Govind Singh himself translated Devi Mahatmyam 
and incorporated it in the Grantli Sahib. The destruction of the 
various demons by the Devi is still a portion of the Sikh sacred 
books. The whole Grantli Sahib, in each of its successive stages, 
shows distinct and unmistakable evidence of being Hindu in 
thought, expression and out-look. 

But there is one important point on which the first Guru as 
well as his successors differed fundamentally from the other 
religious reformers and thinkers of Hindu India. Their spirit 
was essentially modern. The scholasticism of the mediaeval 
Acharyas with its wearying arguments and interpretations of 
texts does not touch them. 

Guru Nanak treated Hindu tradition just as would a modern 
educated Hindu who is pious and religious but at the same time 



130 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [. Sravana , 1331 

endowed with a critical attitude of mind. He accepted the tradi- 
tional setting for his thought, used the same categories and to a 
large extent borrowed even the same phraseology, but he trans- 
formed the whole by a new out-look. 

Nanak’s relation to the main current of Indian philosophic 
thought and tradition is almost the same as of the whole success- 
sion of devotional poets from Kabir to Tagore, and the astonishing 
similarity between the hymns of the first Guru aiTd the best 
passages in Gitanjali would be noticed even by a casual reader. 
Here is an example : 

What attributes of thine Oh Lord shall I blazon abroad? 

I cannot even attain one of thy many excellences; 

I am ever a sacrifice unto thee. 

Gold, silver, pearls, rubies which gladden the heart 
These things the Bridegroom hath given me, 

And I have fixed my hea r t on them. 

I had palaces of brick fashioned with marble, — 

In these luxuries I forgot the Bridegroom and sat not near Him. 

Guru Nanak was eminently a poet and, like all founders 
of religion, he was concerned more with the realisation by 
bis disciples of certain great truths than with the acceptance of 
rituals, formulas, or other practices of priest-craft. He did not 
assume the function or attitude of the lawgiver. 

Nanak was purely a philosopher or mystic and not a political 
or social leader, there differing from the Prophet of Arabia whose 
three cardinal principles — the repudiation of image worship, the 
acceptance of the principle of monotheism and the universal 
brotherhood of man are all accepted by the first Sikh Guru. 
Muhammad was also a law giver. He laid down the law for the 
Muslims in all matters affecting this world. Nanak was content 
with simply teaching the truths of his religion and he left his 
disciples socially within the fold of the Hindu community. 

The Sikh lawgiver — the priest who combined the functions 
of the prince, like, Muhammad, Hildebrand and Calvin — was 



July, 1924] 


SIKH IDEALS 


*31 

Guru Govind Singh who gave the social shape of a distinct com- 
munity to the followers of the Nanak Panth and thus pres<. rved 
their identity from being sunk in the vastness of Hindu sects 
and creeds. 

The pnuciple that Nanak taught was mainly that there is 
only one God, Akal Puruldi*, (which means the eternal being) 
whose qualities cannot be known or defined by human under- 
standing. 

The true one was in (he beginning 
The true one was in the primal age 
'1'hc true one is now also, 
t) Nanak, the true one also slml 1 be. 

Man can realise Him only by acting accm ding to divine 
pleasure when the grace of God will descend on him. He is to 
be worshipped by meditation on His greatness but not by outward 
forms or by images. Nanak and the Gurus set themselves defi- 
nitely against image worship. 

Surrender to the will of God should be the only ideal of man 
in life. All his activities should be directed towards the dis- 
covering of God’s will. 

How shall man become true before God? How shall the veil of 

falsehood be lent? 

By walking, O Nanak, according to the will of the Commander 

as pre-ordained. 

Again : 

Without God’s grace she obtaineth nothing, howsoever she may strive, 

Go and ask the happy wives by what means they obtained their Spouse. 
“Whatever He doeth accept as good : have done with cleverness and orders. 
Apply thy mind to the worship of His feet by whose love what is 

most desired is obtained 

Do whatever the Bridegroom biddeth thee, give Him thy body and soul : 

such perfumes apply” 

Thus speak the happy wives, by these means the Spouse is obtained. 
Efface thyself, so shalt thou obtain the Bridegroom, wliat other art is there? 

*The Sanskrit sh becomes kb in Gtirutnukhi. Thus Rislii is written and 
pronounced Riklii. 



THE VISVA-BHARATf QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


132 


Again : 

He to whom the Lord is compassionate and merciful will do the 

Master’s work. 

That worshipper whom God causetli to abide by His order will 

worship Him. 

By obeying His order man is acceptable and shall then reach his 

Master’s court. 

He shall act as pleaseth his master and obtain the fruit his heart desireth. 

Unquestioning submission to God’s will is the way to per- 
fection and salvation. The only way of understanding the will 
of God and of deserving the Divine grace is by good acts. This 
is the central teaching of Nanak. Unless a man conducts himself 
according to the paths of righteousness he will not attain salvation 
howsoever much be his faith and whatever outward formularies he 
may perform. Good conduct together with humility and love of 
God alone can give a man moksha (salvation). 

The bar-maid is misery, wine is lust, man is the drinker 
The cup filled with worldly love is wrath, and it is served by pride 
The company is false and covetous, ruined by excess of drink 
Make thou, instead, good conduct thy yeast, truth thy molasses 

God’s name thy wine 

Make merit thy cakes, good conduct thy clarified butter and modesty 

thy meal to eat. 

Such, O Nanak, are obtained by the Guru’s favour; by partaking of 

them sms depart. 

Even though a man go barefooted he must still suffer for his own acts 
There is no devotion without virtue. Good conduct alone is the test. 

Again : 

Make thy mind the ploughman, good acts thy cultivation, 

Modesty thy irrigation and water 
And thy body the field to till. 

Thus all through the hymns this idea of right action and 
conduct comes back as the true principle taught by the Guru, 
whereby alone salvation can be obtained. 



July, 1924 ] 


SIKH IDEALS 


133 


Nauak never accepted the differences of caste, though being 
a religious teacher and not a lawgiver he laid down no rules, 
Said he : 

Caste has no power in the next world, where there is a new order of 
being. They .vhose accounts (actions hi this world) .ire honoured are the 
good. 

Again : 

Nanak is with those who arc low be! ,, , among the lowly, nay among 
the lowest of the low. 

He refused the npanayanu ceremony and declared that the 
only sacred thread worth wearing was that which was made of 
the cotton of mercy with contentment, as its thread and continence 
its knots, which would make a jaucit for the soul. By adoring 
and praising the Name, honour and a true thread are obtained. 

The Guru converted men irrespective of creed or caste and 
his chief chela, Mardai.a, was a Musalman. But it is interesting 
to note that, while the Guru disapproved of the false divisions of 
caste based on heredity and not on conduct, he did not declare 
himself against social divisions. When Mardana died the Guru 
declared with reference to the ceremony of his burial that “since 
he knew God he was a Brahmin”. Nevertheless Caste continued, 
and to some extent still continues, to exist in Sikhism. 

The religious, social and political ideals of Sikhism as 
founded by Guru Nanak underwent a profound change under 
his successors. The religion of Nanak was a mystic quietism 
believing in one God who was to be known by devotion and 
pleased by good works and humility. And the Guru was 
tolerant alike of Hindus and Muslims. But gradually they 
developed a social polity and, by the time of Govind Singh, the 
Sikhs became an organised commonwealth having a definite 
political out-look. 

The later Gurus were more statesmen than religious teachers, 
and except for Govind Singh, who combined in himself, like 



134 THE V 1 SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Sravana , 1331 

Muhammad, the gifts of a prophet with those of a prince and 
legislator, they were not the originators of a conscious policy. 

Govind Singh following the tradition set by Har Govind 
changed the quietism of Nanak into an aggressive faith. While 
Nanak had taught : “fight with no weapon save the word of God 
a holy teacher hath no means save the purity of his doctrine,” 
Govind Singh insisted that every member of his commonwealth 
should bear kirpan and call himself Singh or lion. He gave to 
war great dignity as a profession and declared that those who 
died on the battlefield would attain glory and heaven. The 
very fact that he included Devi Mahatmya in the Granth Sahib 
shows that the pious and mystic sect of Nanak had been 
tiansformed beyond recognition. 

The administration of the Pahul (Sikh baptism), the insist- 
ence on outward symbols, the origination of the idea of the Khalsa 
in the whole body of which the spirit of the Guru was to reside 
after him, — these, and not the teachings of Nanak, tended to 
keep the Sikhs from merging themselves within the generous 
expanse of Hinduism. 

Govind Singh cut off all connexion with the dissenters and 
from that time all approximation to Hinduism has been success- 
fully resisted by his puritan followers who from time to time 
arose to restore the Khalsa to its exclusiveness. 



SIKSHA-SATRA, 

A Home School for Orphans. 

By L. K. Klmhirst. 

The Siksha-Satra is the naiural out mine of some years of 
educational experiment at Santiuiketan and of two years experi- 
ence at the Institute of Rural Recount ruction at Sriniketan. The 
principles upon which it is based are little more than common 
sense deductions from the failures and successes of the past. 

It is in their simplicity, in their capacity to grow, and in a 
certain native frankness that the charm of children chiefly lies. 
Untrammelled by tradition, driven forward by inherent instinct, 
they carry on their own research in the field of life, gathering 
knowledge from experience with an abounding joy that is rarely 
exceeded later. 

With the young of domestic animals we notice in its simplest 
form this care-free exuberance, this capacity to treat life as a 
perpetual game and the world as a fairy make-believe, in which, 
for the kitten everything that moves is a potential mouse, and for 
the puppy no household article comes amiss so long as in the soft- 
ness of its nature it may represent some rat to be worried. There 
exists apparently some driving force within, impelling growth 
along certain lines, yet ever seeking to direct the arduous gather- 
ing of experience towards self-preservation, with an overflow of 
life-energ}’’ in what seems to the adult to be the reckless joy-ride 
of youth. 

With the growing tree, too, there is the same kind of 
exuberance in the joyful pushing upward of the young shoot. 
Such is the whirl of life packed within the tip of this first tender 
outgrowth, that cell is added to cell with an amazing rapidity 
whilst the food supply that has been packed away in the mother 
seed remains unexhausted. Even when this supply is gone, the 
growing point still finds its own natural way up and out into the 
open air, and woe be to the tree of the future if some accident 
befalls and damage is done to that first shoot. Other branches 



X36 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY 1 Stamina, 1331 

may develope and try to replace the lead that has gone, but some 
driving force, some urgent desire to seek for life and growth will 
have gone too. 

There is something of this same quality in the human child, 
and in the same way it is not difficult to inflict upon the child, as 
on the young tree, or upon the young animal, permanent damage 
by means of unnatural repression. The playtime of young life 
is not an unmeaning thing. It is intimately associated with the 
demands of a strenuous future, even though for the time being 
some of the worries of self-preservation may be borne by the 
parent. 

We are too apt to forget this with our children. We prefer 
to provide them with a children’s toy-world, lacking the imagina- 
tion to remember that, even if it was make-believe, it was always 
a grown-up world that we chiefly craved as the plaything of our 
early days. To dig our own cave in the earth, where we 
could creep out of sight, much to the disgust of the matter-of-fact 
gardener, to chop sticks with a real axe, to be given a pair of 
boots to polish, a fire to light, or some dough to knead and bake 
— these were ever our keenest joys ; yet only too often had we 
to be content with toy bricks, toy houses, toy tools or toy kitchens ; 
or, if serious work was provided, it was in the nature of sweated 
labour, which fatigued without giving play to our creative 
instincts. 

The aim, then, of the Siksha-Satra is, through experience 
in dealing with this overflowing abundance of child life, its charm 
and its simplicity, to provide the utmost liberty within surround- 
ings that are filled with creative possibilities, with opportunities 
for the joy of play that is work,— -the work of exploration; and 
of work that is play, — the reaping of a succession of novel ex- 
periences ; to give the child that freedom of growth which the 
young tree demands for its tender shoot, that field for self-ex- 
pansion in which all young life finds both training and happiness. 

It is between the ages of six and twelve that the growing 
child is most absorbed in gathering impressions through sight, 
smell, hearing and taste but more especially through touch and 
the use of the hands. From the start, therefore, the child enters 



July, IQ24] 


S1KSHA SATRA 


137 


the Siksha-Satra as an apprentice in handicraft as w ell as house- 
craft. In the workshop, as a trained producer and as a potential 
creator, it will acquire skill and wiu freedom for its lianas ; whilst 
as an immate of the house, which it helps to construct and furnish 
and maintain, it will gain expanse of spirit and win freedom as a 
citizen of the small community. 

Only after it has stored up a certain amount of experience 
in these different fields, will the child begin to feel a need for their 
co-ordination, and therefore tor the time to record, to relate, to 
dramatise and to synthesise the discoveries of the senses. Until 
the child has had intimate touch with the facts and demands of 
life, it is surely unfair to demand long hours of concentrated 
attention upon second-hand facts and figures wholly unconnected 
with anything it has hitherto encountered and taken note of in 
real Life. 

There is a certain Farm School in the Philippine Islands 
where some three hundred boys own and work their own little 
holdings, build their own cottages, keep their own accounts, run 
their own municipality, tend their own livestock, and pocket their 
own profits. “All of our classroom work is in the nature of 
round-table discussions of stored-up experience, except the teach- 
ing of English,” said the principal; “and because we are using 
a standardised course wholly unrelated with their own life, their 
English classes are lifeless too, and I cannot arouse interest in 
them.” 

Under the term housecraft, at the Siksha-Satra, the following 
functions will be treated as of primary educational importance : — 

Care and cleaning and construction of Quarters. 

Care and proper use of latrines ; sanitary disposal of waste 

Cooking and serving of food ; Clothes washing and repair. 

Personal hygiene and healthy habits. 

Individual self-discipline; group self-government. 

Policing and hospitality; b'ire drill and control. 

In everyone of these, there is some art to be mastered, some 
business or organising capacity to be developed, some law of 
science to be recognised, and in all of them there is a call for the 
recognition of the need for individual self-preservation as well 



138 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

as of the duties, responsibilities and privileges of family member- 
ship and citizenship. 

Much of what is termed housecraft is in the nature of handi- 
craft, but, from the earliest years, it is well to introduce to the 
children some special craft, easily grasped by small hands, which 
is of definite economic value. The product should be of real 
use in the home, or have a ready sale outside, and thus enable 
the child to realise his capacity for self-preservation through the 
trained experience of his hands. 

Any of the following can easily be mastered in a few weeks : 

Cotton wick, tape and band making ; Scarf weaving and belt making ; 
Cotton rug and durree making (the looms can easily be made 
by the children themselves, out of bamboo) . 

Straw-sandal making. Straw-mat and mattress making. 

Sewing; Paper making; Ink making. 

Dyeing with simple vegetable dyes; Cotton and calico printing with 
wood blocks. 

Making sun-dried mud bricks. 

For elder boj^s and girls the following are suitable : 

Wool work, shearing, washing, carding, dyeing and coarse blanket 
weaving. Knitting, darning. 

Pottery; Carpentry and carving Smithy and tool making. 

Building with sun-dried bricks ; Rush and mud construction, bamboo 
construction ; Thatching. 

Tailoring and use of sewing machine. 

Watch and Clock repair. 

Cycle cleaning and repair. 

Block making, typesetting, printing, typing and duplicating. 

Musical instrument making (Drums, flutes, one stringed instruments). 

Food preparation; Wheat and grain grinding; Oil extraction; Sap 
extraction; Soap making. 

In the carrying out of everyone of these crafts, again, some 
art, some science some element of business enters in. Anyone 
of these crafts may offer an avenue of approach to the ultimate 
high road of self preservation and to self-confidence in his or her 
own capacity to achieve economic stability in the future. With- 



July, 1924] 


SIKSHA SATRA 


139 


cut such feeling of confidence in the power to face the fight for 
livelihood through the skill of trained fingers and hands, it is 
impossible to achieve that freedom of spirit upon which the fullest 
enjoyment of life is dependant. 

There are few of the crafts mentioned above which are not in 
some way intimately bound up with the life of the country-folk. 
With each of them there is a grauimer at procedure which has to 
be learnt, but it is a grammer which is not detached from life and 
which lias to be learnt at the b ginning by trial and error and the 
bitternes of failure. There are always dry bones of some kind 
behind the finished product of any skilled craft; and so often, 
especially in the class-room, is the original product forgotten 
together with the atmosphere which gave rise to it, and only these 
dry bones left. 

Of all workshops the one provided by nature herself is the 
roost commodious and helpful. Under skilled stimulation and 
guidance there is out-of-doors an unlimited field for experiencing 
and for experimenting with life. The schoolmaster here is an 
anachronism. He can no longer tower over his pupils from his 
rostrum and threaten them with his power to grant or withhold 
marks and certificates. He is forced to adopt his rightful place 
behind the student, ever on the watch, ever ready with a word of 
advice or encouragement, ever ready to be a student himself, but 
never in the w r ay. Nature herself is the best schoolmaster and 
rewards the student according to his capacity and powers of 
observation. The teacher fails here when his student fails, and 
can no longer lay the failure of his pupil at the door of some 
inherent incapacity. 

The following out-door crafts can be learnt and practised by 
small children, and yet be of economic benefit and have their 
intimate contact with life, their definite utility to the family or 
group : 

Poultry keeping, and chicken rearing for egg-production. 

Care of fuel and water supply. 

Seed-bed preparation, manuring, and planting. 

Cultivation of flowers and vegetables. 

Drainage and Irrigation ; Wood-cutting and Jungle clearing. 



140 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravawa, 1331 

As the capacity of the child grows and his experience 
enlarges, there will come at a later stage a natural demand for 
that grammar of his art upon which depends more accurate 
observation, more precise inference, more fruitful knowledge, as 
well as a desire for communion with fellow-workers in the same 
field whose experiences and thoughts, whose struggls and 
successes are stored up in books, — not in such case task -books to 
drudge over, but helpmates and friends carrying them out into 
newer and wider fields of human knowledge. 

Already the Indian village boy is accustomed to take his 
part in the duties and privileges of family life, the herding of 
the cows, the watering and feeding of them. The inclusion of a 
small garden within his home compound, properly supervised, 
provides an ample basis for the widest and best form of education 
by experience. So in the Siksha-Satra it is the individual plot of 
ground which will be for both boys and girls the basis of much of 
their reading, of their writing and of most of their arithmetic. 

From the first the child should feel that this plot is play- 
ground as well as experimental farm, where it will try its own 
experiments as well as carry out the planting, tending and harv- 
esting of some definitely profitable crop. Under such a system, 
text books, class-room and formal laboratory go by the board. 
There remain the garden plot, the potting shed, and the work- 
shop. Records are kept and reports and accounts written up, 
revised and corrected, giving scope for literary training in its 
most interesting form . Geology becomes the study of the ferti- 
lity of the plot; chemistry the use of lime and manures of all 
kinds, of sprays and disinfectants ; physics the use of tools, of 
pumps, the study of water-lifts and oil-engines ; entomology the 
control of plant pests (ants, caterpillars, beetles) and diseases 
(leaf curl, wilt and bacterial attacks) ; ornithology the study of 
birds in their relation first to the garden plot and then to the 
world in general. 

There is no room in the Siksha-Satra for Nature-Study as 
an abstract subject, divorced from life and the needs of life by 
boards of education which sit in cities and recommend question- 
naires and examinations to suit their prescribed text- books, with 
rewards to suit the examination results. In life the 



July, ig24\ 


S1KSHA SATRA 


141 

child has to face the mosquito nightly, perhaps the bug, or the 
flea, the bacteria of typhoid, of cholera and small-pox, as well as 
the forces of nature which attack Ins trees, his plants and his 
live stock. Nature study is thus transformed into the study of 
Nature in relation to life and the daily experiences of life. 

Almost unwittingly we have wandered into the field of human 
service and of citizenship, with its privileges and its responsi- 
bility for human welfare. By a little practical training and ex- 
perience seventy-five per cent, of the ill-health of rural Indian 
could be eliminated within a few months through the activity 
of the children. Such is their willingness to absorb by experi- 
ence, to experiment and to learn from hard facts, that the children 
become the natural and immediate agents in the education of 
the adults, who by the very responsibilities of their position as 
bread-winners or house-workers are precluded from launching 
out into a world of adventure in experiment and who have in all 
probability lost, through years of struggle and drudgery, that 
initial equipment without which experiment is impossible, — a 
fruitful imagination. 

It is in fact, through the children in our own neighbourhood, 
that new life and hope have flooded the villages, which had been 
lost for two generations past in a slough of despair. We left the 
village pundit to carry on his drilling in the three JRs, the pupils 
chained to unnatural benches, and at the mercy of his jailor’s 
arm. They needed first aid, and with that we gained the trust of 
the parents : the boys revelled with us in our simple games and 
thus their own devotion was won. 

Out of the fruitless attempt of the unorganised adults to stem 
a village fire, came the training of the boys as a Fire Brigade and 
with it drill, discipline, and a sense of the utility of immediate 
obedience to a leader in case of emergency. Ninety per cent, of 
the village was attacked with malaria, but through this need of 
life came the mapping of the village, its tanks, its dwellings, its 
pits and its drains, and then the digging of water channels,— 
geography in fact with a vengeance. Not chemistry, not zoology, 
not bacteriology, not physiology, — but the study of anopheles, 
the kerosining of tanks, the disinfection of wells, the registration 
of fever cases and the keeping of health records. 



142 


THK VIS VA-BHA RATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


There was a local fair to be policed without cost, and our 
hoys, many of them not more than children, took over the res- 
ponsibility. There were latrines to be dug and visited regularly, 
carts to be parked, the water reservoir to be guarded and the 
whole area to be cleaned up every morning. There were calls 
for first aid, for sympathy and kindliness, for observation and 
watchfulness, and in the supervisor for perpetual attention, for a 
keeping himself in the background, for stimulation and encourage- 
ment. Out of this grew a movement of the young men in the 
neighbourhood to take over the responsibility for the watch and 
ward of their own village, so that funds might be obtained for 
more and more ambitious experiments in the realms of health, 
educationand civic enterprise. 

Lack of fresh vegetables and the insanitary wastage of 
manure, opened the way for home gardening and the initiation ot 
small garden plots within the home courtyard. Attempts to 
introduce new crops among the adults had failed because only 
the worst farmers, who could not succeed anyhow, toyed with the 
novelties held out to them, whilst the best farmers waited to 
watch the results. On the other hand, if the boys failed, the 
parents did not take it seriously because, after all, they were 
boys. If they succeeded there was a tendency to follow their 
example. Through such avenues a road to new health, new life, 
and a new freedom has been opened, and this by the children 
themselves. 

From the workshop to the garden, from the garden to the 
field and the farm, and from the farm into the neighbourhood, 
and so through the Ivxeursion, the Pilgrimage and the Camping 
Trip, out into the wider field of life. Here for instance, within 
but two miles of us, are all kinds of activities gomg on, intimately 
related to our daily existence, which we tend to take for granted 
and therefore to leave out of our educational programme : 

The Post Office and Telegraph system. 

The Police Station, and local Gaol. 

The Law Court, and Local Dispensary. 

The Station and Goods Yard. 

The Rice and Oil Mills. 



July, 1924] 


SIKSHA SATRA 


H.3 


The Brick Yard. 

The Smithy and Wheelwright. 

The Carpentry and Timber-yard. 

The Potte<* the Copper-smith and the Brass-smith. 

The Home Weaving Industry. 

The Watch-maker and Jeweller. 

The Shoemaker and the Tailor. 

In each of these there is m art, a science and some element 
of business. There are tools to be mastered and men to be 
handled. Each calling opens up a wide horizon for the stimula- 
tion of the imagination, for emulation in embryo, for composition 
and dramatisation and even for more serious apprenticeship in the 
future. It is only through familiarity and experiment with the 
existing methods of policing, punishment and discipline, that we 
are ever going to find some simple path out of the existing maze 
of law, chained as it is to outworn tradition and precedent, and 
the Home-School is the proper and natural place for such experi- 
ments to be carried out under careful guidance and stimulation. 

To try and build up an institution for its own sake only 
results in cutting off the children from life. If education means 
anything it must surely include the provision of means for ex- 
periencing every phase of adult life in embryo form. The school 
must be a laboratory not merely for absorbing knowledge, or for 
producing sheltered hot-house growth, but for giving out, for 
adventure into the realm of practical economics and self-preserva- 
tion, of self-discipline and self-government, of self-expression in 
the world of spiritual abstraction and human welfare. 

To omit this function of neighbourly service is to deprive 
the child of one of the greatest privileges of the home, 
where certain service is taken or granted, and already too many 
schools exist for the depriving of children of the privilege of help- 
ing themselves or their fellows and for the encouragement of an 
unnatural spirit of competition. It is in fact, just out of such 
self-centred institutions, concerned primarily with their own 
success in scholarship or games, their own wealth in numbers of 
students or size of buildings, and run in competition with neigh- 
bouring institutions burdened with similar obsessions, that arises 



• 144 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Srawana, 1331 


that gpirit nf gPPt-^-ianic-m ; r»f cirmlm- nVrnm'nne., tlm t n . M — 4l . n + 

spirit of sectarianism, of nationalism, of selfish individualism and 
self-assertion which produces in the world the most insidious form 
of dissension and spiritual blindness. 

The Home School, through its extension side, is brought 
instantly into touch with life. Meteorology becomes the study 
of the weather in its relation to crop production, and history the 
examination of date collected in the neighbourhood concerning 
.local industries and crafts, customs and religious expression, 
traditions of music and drama, but especially concerning forms 
of social organisation and of that co-operative enterprise which is 
so slow of growth and yet so significant for progress in the future. 
Only on such a basis is it likely that a Renaissance of the country- 
side will come, not at the expense of the past, but firmly based 
upon all the wealth of previous experience and in association for 
a common end. 

Once kindle the dry relics of the past, rapidly disintegrating 
today under the influence of new forces and agencies which have 
caught this ancient civilisation unawares ; once fire the enthusiasm, 
the will-to-experiment of youth, and the new day will dawn. 

So much of our education in the past has disregarded the 
fundamental law of nature, the cycle of life. Where nature is 
ever shortening the weaning time of the developing organism, 
we insist upon extending it indefinitely, through school-days and 
college. From the moment the mother-supply, in seed or egg, 
is exhausted, down must go the roots, searching and experiment- 
ing, up must go the young stalk and spread its leaves into the 
sky, or the young chick venture out alone in search of its own 
food. From the first also, in nature, there is a giving up, a pour- 
ing out, in preparation for the time when the organism will devote 
its whole energy to some great act of self-sacrifice, some service 
on behalf of its own kind, the result of which may bear no direct 
benefit to itself. 

We do not claim that the Home School should be self- 
supporting from the start. That would be a desecration of 
Nature’s own law. But this is no reason for depriving the child 
of the privilege of working for his own self-support, so far as 
his ability?- allows, taking into full aeouut his need for physical, 



July, 1924 ] 


SIKSHA SATRA 


H5 


mental and moral growth and enjoyment. So long as the motto 
of the Home School is “Freedom for Growth”, there need be no 
fear that the powers of the children will be overtaxed. 

Freedom for growth, experiment, enterprise and adventure, 
all are dependant upon Imagination, that greatest of gifts, that 
function of the mind upon which .ill progress depends. To 
release the Imagination, to give it wings, to “open wide the 
mind’s caged door,” this is the most vital service that it is in the 
power of one human being to render to another, and one 1o which 
the Superintendent of the Sikshu-Setra must pay constant and 
undivided attention. It is this gift of imaginative power which 
distinguishes man so markedly from the eating, preying, pro- 
creating animal, and which like the lamp of Aladdin endows him 
with the power to create a new world for himself after his own 
fashion 

Of all conflicts in the field of education, that between - 
Imagination and Discipline is the most bitter and prolonged. On 
the one side stands the child, relieved so often of all responsibility 
for his own seF- preservation, of the worries that accompany the 
winning of a livelihood, craving the fullest freedom to satisfy the 
fertile imaginings of his brain, imaginings which like tender 
plants can so easily be crushed and mutilated, revolting against 
the bonds of what seems so often an unreasoned discipline, and 
on the whole much preferring the rule of a simple anarchy, which 
means no rule at all. On the other side stand the parent and 
schoolmaster, — practical people of the world, with full experience 
of its toil and hardship, lovers of law and order, of routine and 
the common place, because they represent the known in the 
struggle for life, their imagination long ago crushed out in the 
struggle for practical ends, — determined to save the child all 
trouble of experiencing for himself. 

If a child is to have freedom for growth it must have free- 
dom to regulate its own life, freedom from interference anl 
supervision ; but such sheer anarchy may lead to a licence of 
growth which may endanger the whole structure. Of all 
problems, then, this one of finding the minimum of discipline 
that is necessary for the preservation of the maximum of liberty 
is the most difficult. To encourage the children to set their own 



146 


THF, VISVA-BHARATT QUARTKRLY [Sravana, 1331 


bounds and to reason out their own discipline needs a real faith in 
their capacity and a real courage, — the courage to stand by and 
watch mistakes being made without constantly interfering to set 
everything right. 

There is unquestionably a legitimate field for the setting up 
of rules. Certain functions, included under the heading of 
housecraft, and intimately related with the task of self-preserva- 
tion, have to be performed bv every citizen every day. Upon 
their proper performance depends the well-being of the individual 
as well as that of the group. They include, cooking, eating, 
washing-up, bathing, sweeping, — in a word the general care of 
the body and the dwelling. Until the body is free it is hard for 
the mind to soar, and thus the body itself is a serious obstacle 
to anarchy of an extreme kind. Each of these duties, with the 
help of strict discipline, can be performed in a rapid and 
efficient manner, thereby adding to the hours of freedom. 
Children have sufficient common sense to recognise the need for 
such discipline and can make their own rules prescribing 
penalties for breaches of it. 

On the other hand the ideal behind the running of the work- 
shop must be one of freedom from super-imposed restriction, for 
craftmanship has its own standards of excellence, and supplies 
its own discipline. Provided that the endeavour is intimately 
related to life, — whether co-operative, as it often will be, or merely 
individual, — the fullest satisfaction can only be gained in the 
most perfect manifestation of the capacity to create. The boys’ 
own self-respect in the first instance, followed up by the opinion 
of the group, both flavoured by a spice of market value, — all these 
in their own way will provide sufficient discipline. 

How often do we stifle the child’s imagination for fear that 
he will never grow up a practical man. Like the brethren of 
Joseph we have an inborn dislike for brilliant dreamers, who 
upset the even course of our conventional existence. Yet it is 
just to the men of imagination that we owe our progress in 
discovery, — to those who, while recognising the necessary 
grammar, were willing to leap out into the dark of the unknown, 
to dream and to imagine new worlds of their own creation. 
Steering by the light of an anarchic discontent, man has 



July, 1924J 


SIKSRA SATRA 


*47 


explored and is still exploring every sea of human knowledge, 
driven forward by the breezes of his fertile imagination. But 
with the child we insist that he shall not start out on his voyage 
until he has learnt off by heart the chart we have drawn for him 
out of our own experience whilst his little ship cf life, anchored 
within the school-room, wallows in the untroubled calm of the 
conventional, the artificial and the unimaginative. 

It is only through the fullest development of all his 
capacities that man is likely to achieve his real freedom. He 
must be so equipped as no longer to be anxious about his own 
self-preservation ; only through his capacity to understand and to 
sympathise with his neighbour can he function as a decent 
member of human society and as a responsible citizen. In the 
course of the slow growth of the spirit of detachment he will also 
eventually succeed in finding a natural outlet for his inborn 
capacity for creative expression in that world of abstraction which 
is also the world of spiritual truth. To have discovered the 
best means of self-expression as an individual, as a citizen and 
as a creative agent, and to experience daily the delights and the 
difficulties of perpetual growth, — this is true freedom. 

Any scheme, then, which fails to present to the child the 
opportunity to make these discoveries for itself, is seriously at 
fault. Education is sometimes called a tool and is thought of 
as a factory process. Much of it is perhaps so, and the raw 
material, the child, is caught and moulded into the desired 
product as with a machine. But education implies growth and 
therefore life, and school-time should be a phase of life where the 
child begins to achieve freedom through experience. By taking 
it for granted that a child can be taught freedom we deny it life. 

There is a world beyond the walls both of home and work- 
shop, outside even the ken of Nature, which can be entirely a 
man’s own, where anarchy is siipreme. This is the world of 
abstraction and of emotion. Having attained self-confidence as 
to his power to subsist by the labour of his hands, and thus to 
survive within the human family, both adult and child are free 
to pass into this other region where there is no grammar except 
that which the adventurer makes for his own convenience, nor 
any rules or regulations. 



148 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Sravam , 1331 


There are very few children to whom this 1 ealm of 
abstraction and emotional expression, this world of the spirit, this 
kingdom of creative enterprise for its own sake apart from 
economic or ulterior motive, is not a very real thing indeed. We 
may stimulate, we may encourage and sympathise, we may pro- 
vide the means and the opportunity, but if we are honest in 
our desire to give the child freedom to grow we shall be very 
careful not to superimpose our own rules, creeds and regulations. 
The spirit of childhood, like its gift of imagination, bloweth 
where it listeth, and like the wind it comes and goes, and knows 
no man-made law. To be real it must be spontaneous. 
Complete freedom then the child must have, to adventure in the 
realm of song, of music, of poetry if it wishes, of drama and 
dance, to revel in the expression of ideas through colour, line 
or form, or to wander on the limitless horizon of solitary thought 
and meditation, in touch with the still small voice within. 

To imagine that we can teach the child religion is as 
reasonable as to think that we can teach an orchid to grow and 
produce flowers to our taste. A suitable soil we can give, some 
stimulating fertiliser, some source of moisture and a temperature 
properly adjusted so that Nature may take her own course. But 
the law of life is growth, and a recognition of all the principles of 
growth is essential before we can decide what is good for the 
plant. To try and compel growth, to infuse life from outside, 
that is the way to bind and destroy. 

Life, to be life at all, has to be lived; and the parents’ or 
professors’ sins of repression and deprivation, of rod and iron- 
bound rule, are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth 
generation, and may yet lead civilisation to its doom. 



THE RELATION BETWEEN ART AND RELIGION 

IN INDIA. 

By Prop. Radhakamal Mukherji. 

The orderly procession of the stars in the hea\ens, the 
succession of the seasons and of light and darkness, the cycle of 
nature’s process of growth, decay and rejuvenation, the ebb and 
flow of the tides, the rhythmical beating of the heart, the periodic 
fluctuation of sexual life, all these make man peculiarly suscepti- 
ble to a sense of order and symmetry. Art arises from a cons- 
ciousness of this attitude. It expresses itself, through a pleasure 
in forms, colouds and sounds and their harmonies and contrasts, 
iu personal decoration, in architecture, painting and sculpture, in 
song and dance and poetry. 

The purest and most typical expression of simple feeling is 
that which consists of random movements. Hirn says that when 
these motions assume, as they so easily do, the character of a 
fixed sequence in time, i.e., when they become rhythmical, they 
can be and inevitably are, as by a sort of inner compulsion, 
imitated by the on -lookers. In primitive times the gregarious- 
ness of man, under the excitement of periodical feasts, thus 
usually found expression in rhythmic beating, choral music and 
dance. 

Art had its origin in the choral dance under the mental ex- 
altation of such circumstances and was a powerful social binder. 
Under the influence of the memories and the emotions which these 
dances stimulate the primitive group achieves a sense of corporate 
unity, which makes corporate action emerge out of the fixed 
routine of ordinary life. The dance gave form at once to the 
religious ritual and to the art of the primitive peoples. It united 
them by the power of suggestion, both in offence and mutual 
defence; and it was in the dance that they prepared for battle 
and celebrated their victories. Even now poetry, song an 
music inspire the nations to fight one another. 

With peaceful cultured peoples art addresses itself to the task 
of finding order and symmetry in all activities of life. It raises 



150 THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [ Sravana , 1331 

work to the expression of happy and noble ideals in forms of 
wrought metal or carven wood or moulded clay, in images or in 
low reliefs, in wall paintings or embroidered fabrics. It brings 
the sexes together and enlivens domestic life. It makes love 
enduring by borrowing from nature and the sentient life around 
patterns of everlasting union. It is the mother of social etiquette 
and good form which lend grace and dignity to human intercourse. 
It blossoms out into rituals and observances which become fraught 
with deep inspiring meanings for human life and destiny. It 
allies itself with religion and, assisted by imagination, creates 
a language of symbols and a wealth of conventional motifs, 
borrowed from the ordinary sights and sounds of every day life, 
which easily express the eternal verities, the profoundest 
mysteries in simple, familiar garb. 

Local styles may vary, the modes and ideals of composition 
of art may differ among different peoples, but they all seek to 
express the one great apprehension of all art, the grand principle 
of harmony, that the one is in the many, and that the many is in 
the one. 

Thus, though Muhammadan art is on the whole realistic and 
secular in subject, and untouched by the spiritual emotion which 
inspires the art of Buddhist and Hindu, nevertheless, even in the 
calculating Muhammadan mind, there is the joy of filling empty 
space with regular geometrical designs in a veritable maze of 
patterns which express the many. But the many is also the one 
find this is expressed in Muhammadan architecture by the striv- 
ing of the numberless crowded geometrical devices to reach in 
the aggregate, in perspective ascending higher and higher round 
a dome within which prayers are offered, the infinite itself. 

The Hindu mind, more deeply responsive to nature, more 
profoundly touched by a sense of repose in the midst of the 
bewildering flux of things, speaks in a language of symbols which 
tell a different story. The auspicious plant and flower forms 
which the rustic house-wife draws in front of the threshold, the 
bunches of grain and mango-leaves tied in beautiful symbolism 
to the lintel; the lamp beneath the tulsi plant; the water vase 
over which is hung the graceful plantain-branch : all these convev 



July, 1924] ART AND RELIGION IN INDIA. 151 

a symbolic meanings a sense of deeper values, to every Indian 
heart. 

This symbolism is, however, best expressed in the numerous 
myths and images which are living realities in the Indian heart, 
expressions of a profound realisation of Life. Such creations 
represent the soul of India. Several compositional types may 
be distinguished which represent some of the most significant and 
exhaustive experiences of the reality. 

One is represented by Krishna clasping his beloved in a 
rythmic self-abandon. Krishna’s figure is in the tribhanga 
posture. Here the objective of art is the vision of the Infinite 
dancing witli the Finite, and the joy of this mystic sportiveuess 
is expressed in a swinging movement both in the vertical and 
horizontal plane, the counterpart of the mystic strains of the 
flute which Krishna holds. Such an image is well-known in 
every house and temple, even in markets and village council- 
halls. Its appeal is universal. 

Another striking Hindu form is that of Siva dancing the 
dance of death and of life. The figures of the dance are perfected 
within a vertical circle, surrounded by a halo of fire. It is the 
expression of life’s energy, frolicsome in its infinite destructions, 
but nevertheless cyclical and timeless in its unchanging 
completeness. 

Another popular figure is that of the Goddess seated on the 
lion and slaying the demon . The fury of destruction is expressed 
in the slope of her angry posture, while the helplessness of evil 
is visualised in the deviation from the straight strong outline. 

These last two are the expressions of the conquest of the 
spirit over brute matter, an event of events which the Indian 
artist has celebrated in many forms. In the former case, in the 
figure of the dancing Siva, the action or motion is complete, so 
that there is established the tranquil repose of an all-engulfing 
unity. In the latter, the movement continues, and there persists 
the unsubdued excitement of an incomplete achievement. The 
process of evolution from the flesh to the spirit is yet proceeding 
and the unknown sculptor, who makes these images to-day in the 
cottages of Bengal, still infuses into the limbs of the goddess a 
vigour which is the outcome of an age-long tradition, the race 



152 THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

expression of the inevitable urge of life that has not as yet found 
its equilibrium. 

Contrasted with this are the inner experience and artistic 
method which have carved the massive form of the sleeping Vishnu 
in the South Indian temples. In front of the god the beholder 
stands simply awe-struck, overpowered by volume. Vishnu is 
in perfect rest on the waters of eternity. The thousand-hooded 
snake broods over his sleep. All this is on such a vast scale that 
space seems conquered. The surrounding impenetrable darkness 
also suggests a fathomless depth, so that the intellect loses itself 
and is driven towards the unknown. 

In the South, moreover, the city itself resembles the body of 
Vishnu or Garuda with limbs outstretched, or it is planned after 
the sacred lotus. In the lotus plan, the city has four gates in 
four directions, and roads and parks in radiating rows like the 
petals of the flower. This plan is applied also to the internal 
arrangements of a temple, which is thus the city in miniature. 
The temple of Siva is in the nairit, (south west) direction where 
is Yama’s abode, and there also is to be found the burning ghat 
of the city. In the south is Vishnu’s temple. The lotus pattern 
is repeated in the dome of the Sabha-mandapam, the seat of the 
assembly of the village community, while the sikhara of Vishnu’s 
temple and the spire of Siva’s typify the noble classical concep- 
tions of the mountains of Meru or Kailasa respectively. 

As we enter the temple, we have on the walls, right and left, 
and on the ceiling of the lofty aisles and spacious corridors, illus- 
trations from the Puranas, the epics and other folklore which 
feed the imagination and satisfy the spirit. Scenes of filial love 
and service, compassion and pity, heroism and sacrifice, humility 
and reverence are delineated with an eloquence of ornamental 
detail and a synthetic apprehension of the whole of life as an 
everflowing, uninterrupted movement, that are truly remarkable. 
Through the ceaseless procession of living activity, the beholder 
is initiated by degrees to images of Life, Death, Eternity and 
ultimately to the central idea that the whole city or temple seeks 
to utter — the horizontal expansion allowing thinking space to the 
brain and the mystic pointing upward satisfying the aspiration of 
the soul. 



July, 1924 ] 


ART AND RELIGION IN INDIA. 


*53 


The atmosphere of the temple converges into the reliquary 
proper through dark and ascending stairs and narrowing space. 
A quiet depth lingers dream-like round the sanctus sanctorum. 
It is there that we find a vast colossal Ungam, a symbol of the 
divine creative energy, which rises high as far as the eye can 
reach in one black solid mass thus expressing the vastness of 
fathomless space itself, or there is the figure of Vishnu, filling 
the dark space with its immensity. 

There is nothing of emptiness, l ut all is pervaded by a vast 
sense of reality. Materially there could be nothing more solid 
and towering than these figures, but the beholder as he contem- 
plates on them is filled with the serenity and repose, which is of 
the gods. Sometimes, again, there is nothing in the inner sanc- 
tuary, no images or altars, but only a complete, nerfect circle, the 
mystic symbol of the universal, creative formlessness, which 
supplies the back-ground of every form of external expression . 

But it is not the religious creations alone that are endowed 
with spiritual charm. The Indian artist sees a sacredness in the 
most common-place! objects and expresses passing feelings in 
terms of the permanent. This is true even of the more recent 
Rajput and Mughal schools of Indian art which abound in 
examples of so-called secular themes. There, even in the lowest 
forms of imitative art, in historical themes and portraiture, the 
artist has been able to invest his work with a spiritual serenity, 
so that the personalities depicted therein, in spite of the crowding 
and restless associations of their lives, seem to be so spiritually 
remote and detached from the tumult and concern of mundane 
existence. 

Other illustrations are the familiar representations of musical 
modes in Indian art where one sees the various Ragas wonderfully 
expressed in terms of colour. Take, for instance, the musical 
mode Vrindavani Sarang. The scene depicted is that of a young 
woman in a coloured mantle walking through the forest. A 
thirsty deer stands in her way and craves her sympathy. Across 
the arid and sparsely wooded landscape, there runs a pure crystal 
stream. As the symphony spreads over the afternoon sky and 
reaches the horizon line, one understands the deception of life and 



154 the VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

feels the pang and despair of leaving the clear cool stream for the 
world life which gives no solace to the craving soul. 

Such are some of the conceptions which are characteristic of 
Indian Art and which are yet living traditions in Indian life. 
Indian art is not abstract but is something living and concrete. 
It reveals the mass life of man and nature to the individual and is 
therefore socializing and ethical. It creates in folklore and paint- 
ing, in myth and poetry, symbols that spring from various forms 
of social and individual relationships and evoke feelings irrespec- 
tive of a man’s own particular limitations. 

In the Indian legends and myths the gods descend to the 
earth and live the life of the common people. Thus the most 
familiar activities of everyday life are endowed with sacredness 
and spiritual charm. The eternal child, Gopal, is the objective 
of parental devotion and love in every Indian household. Radha 
and Krishna have attracted to themselves all the passion of 
romantic love. There is also the Eternal Mother and the Indian 
learns by tradition to look upon every woman in her image. 
These eternal relationships live by oral tradition and are recreated 
in art, and thereupon bind man to his fellows in vital, indissoluble 
bonds. 

Thus is developed a sense of the value and responsibility of 
life, which inspires a loving humility and sacrifice and a profound 
sympathy for those who are the victims of fate or misfortune. 



DIVINE DARK. 

Put out file lamp* and le- their light 
Dwindle to its last feeble spark ; 

It is the hour of inward night 
And all within my soul is dark. 

Do, now I fain would be alone 
Until this fiery darkness ends, 

For of a sudden I have grown 
Beyond the need of kindly friends. 

Veiled by the little lights of earth 
Your idle mocking laughter runs, 
But know my inward night is worth 
A million of your glittering suns ! 


Harindranatli Chattopadh^aya, 



YEATS THE NOBEL PRIZEMAN AND HIS 
POETRY. 

By James H. Cousins, d.lit. 

[The 1923 award of the Nobel Prize for literature of an idealistic 
tendency to W. B. Yeats has brought into world prominence the poet 
who has long occupied a place in many minds as one of the immortals of 
song. In India he is known not only for his own work, but also for his 
introduction pf Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry to the western world. We 
are permitted to reprint the following short study of Mr. Yeat’s works from 
Dr. Cousin’s book “New Ways in English Literature.’’] 

The existence in Ireland, from some time past, of a marked 
outburst of creative literary activity in the English tongue has 
become a matter of common knowledge and common joy 
amongst those who follow the movements of the Spirit towards 
the regeneration of humanity through the sensitive instruments 
of the arts. At the head of the modern Irish literary revival, 
by universal consent, stands the poet, William Butler Yeats. 

To understand his position in the long and brilliant 
hierarchy of bards of the Western Celts, it is necessary to 
remember that while to Yeats was given the office of restoring 
to Irish poetry the joy of the artist and craftsman, which was 
characteristic of the work of the bardic order many centuries 
before, the actual headwaters of the subsequent stream of 
modern Irish poetry were somewhat further back. Mr. Yeats 
has himself indicated them in his lines “To Ireland in the 
Coming Times”. 

Know that I would accounted be 
True brother of that company 
Who sang, to sweeten Ireland’s wrong, 

Ballad and story, rann and song. 



July, 1924] YEATS THE NOBEL PRIZEMAN AND HIS POETRY 


J 57 


Nor may I less be counted one 
With Davis, Mangan, Ferguson, 

Because, to him who ponders well, 

My rhymes more than their rhymings tell 
Of the dim wisdoms old and deen 
That God gives unto man in sleep. 

.tfor seven centuries the genius of the Irish race, under 
the domination of an alien polity with which it had no spiritual 
affinity, had maintained a struggle for freedom in the things 
of the outer life, .and flamed at last, in the movement led by 
Davis, into an emotion whose natural voice was the impassioned 
lyric. The death of Davis marked roughly the beginning of 
the era of parliamentary tactics ; the stirring adventure of frank 
revolt gave place to the furtive astuteness of the politician ; and 
the poets took the turning at the cross-roads towards re-creating 
the veritable Ireland, while the politicians wandered into the 
slums of party intrigue. It was during this era that Sir Samuel 
Ferguson pursued his studies in Irish archaeology, and pointed 
the way for the re-creation of the ancient Irish world in poetry. 

Ferguson saw the passing of the era of the political 
ballad, and hailed the coming of the new school of artists in 
poetry. His own work, with its curious blend of archaeology 
and song fused by love of his country, became an important 
factor in the early inspiration of Yeats ; but the main operation 
of what the Gita calls the “qualities of nature,” in calling out 
the genius of Yeats, came through the historical circumstances 
that drove Davis to revolt in political ballads, though the 
circumstances, carried forward forty years, drove Yeats to revolt 
also against the political ballad itself. 

The herald of conflict appeared once more, not with the 
thunderings of social upheaval, not with the lightnings of 
inexpressible emotion, but with the calm and assurance of a self- 
realized spirit whose finger is on the secret of the power that 
makes and unmakes universes. 

Claiming for himself the fullest freedom of spirit, Yeats 
voiced the genius of revolt, but with a deeper, subtler power. 



158 THE VIS VA-BH A RATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

He spoke for the soul of man, and so for Ireland and for 
the world. He pondered, and laid aside, the popular form 
of poetry of half a century before ; but the method which 
he ultimately perfected was the sublimation of the technique 
of the bardic schools of Ireland before the Norman conquest, 
with its eye for the significance of details in nature (a millenium 
before Wordsworth brought Nature into English poetry) and 
its ear for a music within the music ; and the thought- 
stuff which he mixed into the incomparable lyrics of his early 
period was his ancestral heritage from his Druid ical forefathers, 
with their insight into the laws of the inner life, and their recog- 
nition of the fundamental unity of Nature, Humanity and 
Divinity. 

His poem from which I have already quoted his literary 
ancestry discloses him as occultist in his knowledge of the finer 
forces and entities of nature, and as mystic in his interpretation 
of himself and the universe : 

For the elemental beings go 
About my table tp and fro. 

In flood and fire, and clay and wind, 

They huddle from man’s pondering mind ; 

But he who treads in austere ways 
May surely meet their ancient gaze. 

From our birthday until we die 

Is but the winking of an eye ; 

And we, our singing and our love, 

The mariners of night above, 

And all the wizard things that go 
About my table to and fro, 

Are passing on to where may be, 

In Truth’s consuming ecstasy. 

No room for love and dream at all, 

Fpr God goes by with white foot-fall. 

“The Man who Dreamed of Fairyland” is a beautiful 
rendering of the first stages of life after death. “The Old Age 
of Queen Maeve” tells of a Great One speaking through a king 
in trance. 



July, 1924 ] YEATS THE NOBEI, PRIZEMAN AND HIS POETRY 


*59 


It is this widening of knowledge and deepening of thought 
that sent Yeats for beyond the T)avis era of Irish poetry. His 
acquaintance with the founder of the Theosophical movement 
could not but make a profound impression on one whose natural 
bent towards the occult was reinforced by the knowledge and 
tradition of his race. It was quite natural for him to turn up 
at the foundation meeting of the Dublin Section of the Society 
tor Psychical Research ; and in subsequent private investiga- 
tions, in which I had the privilege of accompanying him, I have 
observed his immense knowledge of the whole range of 
theoretical and practical occultism. The fairies to Yeats are 
no figu r es of speech, useful to give a verse an Irish flavour, like 
the harp and shamrock; they are realities, that is, living things 
of his imagination (whether objective actualities or not makes 
no matter,) not cold abstractions or conventions. They 

the embattled, flaming multitude. 

That rise, wing above wing, flame above flame, 

And like a storm cry the Ineffable name, 

stratify his world beneath and above the earth’s crust and its 
ponderable inhabitants; and they, and all they stand for, give 
a richness and complexity to the background of his thought that 
demands for its expression something more than a formula or a 
statement of fact, something organic and vital, something that 
is one with the universal Creative Energy. It was this 
necessity that drove the first poets of the dawn into myth, and 
drove Yeats into “The Wanderings of Unsheen, ’’ with which 
he commenced his career in 1889. “Myth,” he once said to 
me, “is vision in action” ; and the supreme end of the poet with 
vision is either the creation of myth that embodies his idea of 
the Divine Idea, or the reverent and joyful interpretation of 
God’s Myth, the Universe. 

To this august office Yeats has dedicated his life. Like his 
frugal and intensive contemporary in song, 2 E, he tunes his 
reed to beauty, and not so much to the celebration of beautiful 
things as to the disclosure of the ideal Beauty from which (as 
the Platonists and Emerson also declared) beautiful things take 



160 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

their quality. But while “the Beauty of all beauty” is to 2E 
self-existent and now, it is to Yeats a process. He sees 

In all poor foolish things that live a day, 

Eternal Beauty wandering on her way, 

and he endeavours to make his poetry a way for her feet. So 
JE, says his say in great little poems that come as near being 
poetry without language as Scriabine’s Prelude in G is near 
being music without sound; but Yeats is never satisfied, and 
is always willing to make alterations that may improve his 
poems. In his plays, this habit of alteration has made many 
layers of memory in the minds of the actors. I remember 
glorying in certain lines at the very earliest rehearsals of “The 
Shadowy Waters”, in which I had a small part ; but the printed 
version is to me much the poorer because those lines do not 
appear. 

The whole purpose and method of Yeats are expressed in 
these two verses : — 

All things uncomely and broken, all things worn and old, 

The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering 
cart, 

The heavy steps of the ploughman splashing the wintry 
mould, 

Are wronging your image, that blossoms, a rose in the deeps 
of my heart. 

The wrong of unshapely things is a wrong too great to be 
told. 

I hunger to build them anew', and sit on a green knoll apart, 

With the earth and the sky and the water remade, like a 
casket of gold 

For my dream of your image, that blossoms, a rose in the 
deeps of my heart. 

That is the cry of the artist who is something more than 
artist only; it is one in spirit with the immortal “shattering” 
stanza of Omar. It shows the artist, also, deeply concerned 
with his work ; he knows that he can only apprehend and impart 



July, 1924 ] YEATS THE NOBEL PRIZEMAN AND HIS POETRY 161 

the elusive Bea,uty by means of his own dream. The birds in 
the old Irish myth, that hovered about Angus the Young, were 
white, but they took the colour of whatsoever they lighted upon ; 
and Yeats has spiritual wisdom to know that the white light of 
ultimate truth must suffer the stain of his own genius, and in 
his effort to make that stain as fine as the exigencies of his art 
will permit, he has risen above the limitations of personality, 
and become in literature the type and supreme expression of his 
race. 

In the qualities by virtue of which he has taken his place 
in the front rank of singers in the English tongue (an 
exquisitely delicate music, intense imaginative conviction, 
intimacy with natural aud supernatural manifestations), Yeats 
is typically Irish. In the elements of intellectual virility, aud 
of composition on the grand scale, (lacking which, he just falls 
short of absolute greatness, according to Western standards) he 
is also typically Irish ; for we look in vain through the literature 
of Ireland, Gaelic or Anglo-Irish, for anj? outstanding expres- 
sion of that concrete mind whose power of objectivity, whose 
architectural grasp and appalling patience peopled the mediaeval 
mind with devils from the Hell of Dante, and strewed Europe 
with magnificent cathedrals to the man-made and man-like 
Divinity of a lost revelation. 

The genius of Ireland and of Yeats is vagrant and lyrical. 
In time it may acquire stability, and its earthly twin, solidity 
and extensiveness ; though we may hold the faith that such gain 
might be at the expense of a quality of much higher spiritual 
value than mere bulk. To evolve an eternity of noble lines may 
be a mighty achievement of the mind ; to put eternity into a 
single line, as Yeats has done, is the miracle of the spirit. 



AL-JAHIZ AS A RELIGIOUS THINKER 

By Mohammad Bazltjr Rehman. 

| Amr ‘ibn Bahr Al-J alii/, who died in 869 A.D. (255 A.H.) was a celebrated 
free-thinker and one of the most voluminous writers of Arabic 
literature. For his life see Lucknow University Journal, Vol. II, 
No. 4.J 

In the earlier stages of civilization, religion was of foremost 
importance among all human institutions and it exercised a 
tremendous influence in moulding the views and ideas of man- 
kind. It was particularly so among the Muslims ; the followers 
of Muhammad looked at every thing from this point of view and 
all literary, scientific and political activities centered around it. 
Among them the individual was more honoured for his knowledge 
of religion than for his knowledge of anything else. In the 
history of Islamic literature we find that the reputation of a 
thinker or an author depended more on his conception of Islam 
and holding fast to the accepted creed than on the originality of 
his thought or the beauty of his style. Socially and politically 
his influence in the community was determined by the religious 
views that he held. 

Al-Jahiz, who contributed to so many different branches of 
knowledge, received his literary education under the influence 
of men of letters and culture of Basra, called the Masjidiy&n, to 
whom he refers in the Kitabul Bay an wat-Tabyin. These were 
men of different shades of opinion and possessing individual views, 
who gathered together in mosques and quenched, by holding 
discussions, that questioning spirit which had been aroused under 
foreign influence. The information that has come down to us 
about those theological debates is uncertain, confused and 
unsatisfactory. Probably, as Prof. Margolionth believes, (1) the 
fragments of metaphysical discussions in the Kit&bul Haywdn 

are fair specimens of what went on in the mosques. These debaters 

* 

(1) Early Development of Muhammadanism, p. 227. 



July, 1924 ] AL-JAHIZ AS A RELIGIOUS THINKER. 


163 


were the investigators and systematizes who split points, defined 
the issues and established principles which later on formed the 
nucleus of different sects. Having his education is such sur- 
roundings, Al-Jdhiz acquired that true spirit of enquiry which 
always leads to magnificent results. 

The keen interest in religious matters which he thus imbibed 
by force of circumstances never forsook him all his life. He was 
one of the earliest of those thinker’s who tried to analyse every 
point in the light of new discoveries in the realms of science and 
learning and it is only right that he should be reckoned as a 
Mutakallim, scholastic theologian, of the first order. In his 
views lie attached himself to the M'utazilite sect, the most rational 
school of thought in Islam and by his life-long studies earned the 
epithet of Shaykh-ul-M ( utctzila , which lie very richly deserved. 

Our author started his career as Nazzam’s discipline, but 
later on, having occasion to examine his master’s views in detail, 
and disagreeing with him in certain points, he founded a school 
of his own. In spite of the fact that he had the greatest regard 
and respect for his learned master, (1) Al-Jahiz criticises him very 
severely whenever there is a difference of opinion. (2) He took 
Nazzam as an authority on all topics and his works abound in 
quotations from him. 

The chief characteristic of all the works and writings of 
Jahiz is, that throughout them runs a strain of theological 
thought that contenances the M'utazilite view ; moreover most of 
his authorities are men of his own school . On this account lie has 
been charged with writing every thing from the M'utazilile 
stand-point. (3) Undoubtedly he wae very loyal to this school, 
which he extolled over the rest of the Islamic creeds. (4) But 
from all this it cannot be concluded that he was too narrow- 
minded to study other doctrines. Besides the refutations ascribed 
to him, the information contained in his extant works, which has 
been so much utilized by Goldziher in his most scholarly books, 

(1) Hayw&n, Vol. VI,, p. io 6. 

( 2 ) Hayw&n, Vol. II., p. 56. 

M SMhrastanl, p. 52. 

(4) TJayw&n, Vol. I., p. .5 



1 64 


THE VISVA-BHARATT QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


shows that Al-Jahiz had studied these schisms and possessed the 
knowledge of even their most minute detail. 

Al-Jahiz was alive to the truth that to confine himself to his 
own narrow circle of beliefs would not make for the proper study 
of religion which he had made the purpose of his life. Unlike 
most of the Muslim theologians, he tried to take a peep at the 
outer world and see how people who were not his co-religionists 
felt and thought about the matters which were exercising his own 
mind. 

The sister-religions of fudaism and Christianity were 
perhaps the first to attract his attention and both of 'these he 
has refuted in his treatises — Kitdb ar-Radd ‘alal Yahtid and 
Kiidb ar-Radd. Alan Nasara, the latter of which is extant in part 
in the British Museum. The Kitdbul PI ay wan also contains 
some reports of discussions between Muslims. Tews and 
Christians and these seem to have been conducted in good 
temper. In the aforesaid work as well as in the Kitdbul Bavdn 
wall Tabyin, we meet with references to Zoroaster and his religion 
and it is remarkable that Al-Jahiz was the best informed amongst 
the earliest Arabic writers on Persian topics. (1) Even the 
religion of the Hind vis, whose ideas had been but lately introduced 
to the Muslims, did not escape his notice. In the treatise, the 
Kitdbul Asndni, which is unfortunately lost to us. he particularly 
dealt with their notions of worship. (2) 

Possessing so varied a knowledge, Al-Jahiz made himself 
very conspicuous in his age by his religious views and it is 
important to examine the part that he played in the province of 
religion. The difficulty in such a study is that our sources of 
information are vague and scanty ; his biographers content them- 
selves with an encomium, they are prodigal in words and give 
us little beyond the fact that he was the founder of a sect among 
the Mutazila. 

This dearth of material is one of the results of the orthodox 
reaction which was so successful in destroying the literature of 
the so-called heretics. All the authorities that are available to- 

(1) Prof. Browne's Jyilerary History of Persia, Vol. I., p. no. 

(2) Ilaywan, Vol. I., p. 5. 




July, 1924] AL-JAHIZ AS A RELIGIOUS THINKER. 


165 


day draw their information about Al-Jakiz mainly from 
Al-Kabi(i) who was one of the 1 e-ding thinkers of the M'utazila. 
Even Al-Jahiz’s own works do not throw much light on those 
doctrines which he taught his followers called the Jahiziyya. 


As has already been pointed out, Al-jahiz was a M'utazila 
first, and founder of his own sect afterwards, so naturally he 
followed in general their system of thought and only disagreed 
with them in certain details. Ail the authorities agree that in his 
views he was too much inclined towards the doctrines of the 
Tabiy vin , the naturalists. Al-jahiz was never a blind follower ; he 
studied natural history for himself and ascertained the truth. 
His personal observations, combined with the careful study of 
others who spent their energies in that direction, provide the 
key-note to those ideas for which he gained so great a reputation 
even among the most enlightened section of his fellow-thinkers. 

So before analysing the principles of Al-jahiz it is important 
to know what these naturalists stood for ; and to this end one can 
not do better than quote from the learned work of Ibnul-Qifti :(2) 

The naturalists were those people who studied the trend and propensity 
of nature and its effects and manifestations in Creation, vegetable as 
well as animal. They investigated the peculiarities of plants, physiology 
of animals, the composition of their parts, the results of their coming 
together and their different faculties. In consequence of these researches 
into the Creation of God, who is High and Great, these scholars, calling 
him the Independent Doer, Maker, Wise and Knowing, hallowed and 
glorified his name for creating all that exists solely through His own 
wisdom and for ordaining everything according to His intention and 
knowledge. 

These investigators established that, after reaching a certain limit, 
which is determined by their reacting dispositions, all animate objects 
deteriorate, decompose and finally disappear fiom this world. They 
thought that this fundamental principle was true in the case of human 
beings also, and that with the death of the body, the soul likewise pcnslied. 


(1) Author of Kitab al-Munyat wol Anvil fi Sharli ' Kitabnl 
extract from which pertaining to the MutaziL , l 


Milal wan-Nahl, nil 
by Sir I. W. Arnold 


in 1902. 

fa) Ibnul Qifti, p. so* 



1 66 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


As a result of this view they denied the existence of the world to come, the 
resurrection after death and the life beyond. According to them, prophets, 
saints and other religious thinkers taught the people about the life beyond 
simply for the reason that this idea has a sobering influence and deters 
them from doing evil and disturbing the peace of the community. These 
very thinkers are the Zindiqs, for the true belivers arc those who believe 
in God, the day of judgment, life after death and all the rest that the 
scriptures have brought from God, through the prophets. 

Such were the thinkers whose views had a great 
fascination for Al-Jaliiz and on their works, which were mainly 
based on the Aristotelian philosophy he seized with great avidity. 
The problem of the eternity of the Quran and the question of 
free-will, which distinguished the M'utazilites from their other 
brethren in faith, were already most prominent. With the study 
of philosophy new difficulties began to appear, and these were 
specially concerned with the qualities of God and the Quranic 
promise of the beatific vision. These speculations, as McDonald 
says,(i) were of larger future importance than mere fossilizing 
intellectualism. It is in respect to the interpretation of these 
ideas that Al-Jahiz took his position among the leaders of the 
different M'utazilite schools. 

To start with, the precise nature of faith has always been a 
great controversy in Islam and the earliest theological sects like 
the Murjites had this problem for their origin ; yet it is strange 
to find that even up to this day their conclusions are anything 
but definite. For Muslims the question was of tremendous im- 
portance, for they believed that it is the faithful alone who shall be 
saved from hell-fire. Our author’s confession of faith was of 
the utmost simplicity and in his theory we find an attempt to make 
theology broad enough to give even the unsettled a chance to 
remain in the Muslim church and he strongly accuses the 
theologians for passing the verdict of infidelity 011 such believers. 

According to him, every human being naturally acknowledges 
the existence of the Creator and recognises the need of an apostle. 
So if a person holds that Allah is his Lord and that Muhammad 


(1) McDonald, Development of Muslim Theology, p. 160. 



July, 1924 ] AL-JAHIZ AS A RELIGIOUS THINKER. 


167 


was His prophet, he is a true Muslim and nothing more should 
be required of him unless he is really capable of further philo- 
sophical reflection. He taught his followers that every true 
Muslim should believe that God has neither for in nor body, but 
along with this he used to say that if a person could not under- 
stand the idea by the light of reason, he should be excused, 
because for such a one it is enough to believe in His existence. 

The conception of God, which is so prominent in the teach- 
ing of Al-Jahiz, has been the subject of unending discussions in. 
the history of the Muslim theology. Besides the fact that, in 
the Quran, he is represented as possessing hands, feet, eyes, etc., 
the believers are promised a vision of God in paradise, which 
on the strength of the Holy Boole and traditions is supposed 
to be the highest reward held out to them. Necessarily this 
involves the idea that God has a body or a form which can 
be seen. In spite of the speculations of A bul Hudhayl and 
An-Nazzam, the M'utazilite free-thinkers found it difficult to re- 
concile this view with the Greek philosophy, and while his 
colleagues were content to explain it away r by making certain 
reservations, Al-Jahiz absolutely denied that God has substance. 
He was mere essence and as such could not take tangible form. 
This denial entailed the refusal to believe in the possibility of the 
Divine vision in Paradise. 

These conclusions of Al-Jahiz were the result of his agreeing 
with the philosophical thinkers on the question of the attributes 
of God(i) which in importance came next to that of the form of 
God. According to the orthodox Muslims, will, knowledge, 
power and life were qualities which God possessed from eternity ; 
the M'utazilites who called themselves the People of Unity and 
Justice, objected to this idea on the ground that to take these as 
eternal would mean admitting the plurality of God. They as 
champions of absolute Unity speculated on it and formulated 
theories which ran parallel to the Christian and Greek doctrines. 
In agreement with Abul Hudhayl and An-Nazzam, Al-J&hiz held 
that these attributes are not external things possessed bv God, but 
modes and phases of the Divine Essence. The will of God, for 
example, he treats as a mode of knowledge ; to say that God 


(1) SMlirastnni, p. 52. 



i68 


THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


wills what is good is equivalent to saying that God knows it to be 
good; 

With the advent of intellectualism the Muslims realized the 
individual consciousness of freedom and human responsibility 
but with it the Semitic idea of predestination and of the despotism 
of God were not easily tenable. The conflict of these ideas 
marked the beginning of thinking life in the theology of Islam 
and since the Qadarites appeared in the field of speculation, the 
doctrine of free-will has been the battle ground of sectarian 
disputes. Al-Jahiz who was a keen students of natural history 
observed that stars and planets each have their appointed course, 
and he saw no reason why this should not be true in the case of 
every other object in creation. To him the qadr or decree of God 
meant the laws of nature. Consequently he regarded God as the 
source of universal law and as such He was only responsible for 
the actions of human beings as the Giver of this law. 

Dependent on this conception is the position of man as regards 
his actions. Here again Al-Jahiz agreed with the naturalists and 
believed that all knowledge comes by nature, nevertheless it is 
an activity of man in which he has no choice. (1) He further 
enlarges upon this idea and says that man has no other activity 
but the will and that the rest of his acts are ascribed to man 
only in the sense that they occur by nature and naturally arise 
from his will. Will, again, he regards simply as a manner of 
knowing and so as an accident of knowledge; a voluntary act 
he defines as one known to its agent. 

Assuming that God willed no evil, Al-Jahiz taught his 
followers that every man who conies into this world is religiously 
constituted and is able to discern right from wrong ; it is only his 
personal will that, under certain natural forces, leads him astray. 
Sin he defined as an act which a man commits although he knows 
it to be wrong. According to him, those people alone can be 
called infidels who, knowing the truth about God and His Prophet 
persist in their wrong beliefs only through their infatuation for 
their old cult. (2) It was this doctrine that led him to an attempt 

(1) Al-Baghdadi’is Kitab al Farq baynal Firaq , p. 160. 

(2) Al-Baghdadi, p. 160. 



July, 1924} AL-JAHIZ AS A REMOTOUS THTNKKR. 


169 


to broaden theology enough to give every one a chance to remain 
within Islam. 

Of greater importance than any other doctrine which 
distinguished Al-Jahiz from the other M'utazilite thinkers was a 
principle which he had inherited directly from the deistie 
naturalists. Regarding the matter which constitutes the 
Universe, his view was that it is absolutely indestructible ; a body 
once created could not be annihilated even by God, the only 
possibility being change of form or of constituents. ( 1 ) Substance 
he treated as everlasting, only accidents are created and variable. 
This view, which was most repugnant to the orthodox Muslims, 
for it meant the denial of the power of God who is Omnipotent 
even to destroy, was the result of his belief in the Unity of 
Nature. ( 2 ) M'amar ibu ‘Abbad had developed An-Nazzam’s ideas 
of creation, theorising that matter as a whole was created by God ; 
and that the changes in it came of necessity from its nature. It 
fell to the lot of Al-Jahiz to complete the theory of his master by 
declaring the aforesaid conclusion. Besides being significant as 
showing how philosophy affected theology, it meant a great 
change in man’s attitude towards the world unseen. 

Retribution in the next world and punishment of transgress- 
ing believers were the questions, differences of opinion on which 
had been the cause of the origin of the M'utazilites. Jahiz believ- 
ed that it is not the action that brings retribution, but the inten- 
tion or the will to perform the action ;(3) and, as we have seen, ac- 
cording to him only such actions can be termed sin which are 
committed in spite of the knowledge of its being wrong. 

The theory of Al-Jahiz was a great revolt against the old 
gloomy fatalism which made the earlier Muslims labour under the 
terrible consciousness that every sin, great or little, deserved the 
wrath of God. Further, he not only agreed with the othe.- 
M'utazilites in the view that a believer cannot be condemned to the 
Fire, but his definition of a Muslim was so lax that it included 
even the most unsettled as regards their religious beliefs. This 
broad-mindedness is the chief feature which distinguishes Al- 


(1) Ibn Hazm, Vol. IV. 4 p. 1Q5. 

(2) Havwdn, Vol. II., p. 48. 

(3) Al-Baghd&d$, p. 160. 



170 


THE VISVA-BHARATT QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


Jahiz from tlie other founders of the Islamic sects who damned 
all those who differed from them even in details. 

His conception of God and theory of Creation, his idea of the 
Unity of Nature and of human responsibility, involved a change of 
view as regards heaven and hell. Basing the argument on his 
belief that God is just and wills no evil, he taught his followers 
that He does not cause anyone to enter hell, but that it is the 
inborn force of a man’s nature which leads him to the pleasures of 
paradise or the terrors of hell. Further, his study of natural 
history did not allow him to believe that the torments of those 
entering the Fire shall be everlasting, so he held that the sinners, 
after some time, shall first turn into fire and then remain in that 
condition for ever.(i) Moreover it is interesting to note that Al- 
Jahiz maintains that the descriptions of the life after death in the 
Quran are merely metaphorical. (2) 

Besides these general principles of which Jahiz was the 
champion and ardent preacher, there is another element that he 
bi ought into fuller and more effective working. In the inter- 
pretation of facts concerning the religious beliefs he was guidea 
more by the philosophic thinkers than the theologians. (3) Him- 
self being free in life and thought, his attempt was to adapt 
theology to the requirements of the new learning which was 
gaining more and more ground among the Muslims. Along with 
his efforts to popularize philosophic ideas and present them in an 
acceptable form, he was not slow in applying them to the Quran 
and the traditions. The word of God was infallible, so the state- 
ments in it could only be explained away. In the Kitdb at- 
Tarbi‘ wat-Tadbir( 4) Al-Jahiz gives a long list of questions of 
a religious nature which can only be answered with the help of 
Greek philosophy. Problems like creation, metamorphosis of 
unbelievers into swine and monkeys, existence of the jinn etc., 
he has touched in his Kitab al-Haywan. How far he himself 
was able to assimilate Greek thought with religion, will be dis- 
cussed later on. 

(1) Sh&hrast&ni, p. 52. 

(2) Bay&n, Vol. I., p. 86. 

(3) Shahrast&ni, p. 52. 

(/}) Van Voten’s edition, pp. 101-116 and 135-162. 

(5) Hay wan, Vol. I., p. 150. 



July, 2924] AL-JAHIZ AS A RELIGIOUS THINKER. 


171 


As is to be expected of so learned a man and so keen an 
observer, Jahiz does not believe in the ordinary superstitions (5), 
but it is surprising to find that in the Kitab al-Haywan they are 
lather prominent. Besides devoting a long chapter to proving 
the existence of the jinn, he seems to have believed in angels also, 
just as they are depicted in the Quran , moreover he had complete 
faith in the fact that Jafar ibn AL 5 Talib(i) shall have two wings 
in the next world in place of- -his arms which were cut off in one 
of the expeditions of the Prophet. He has a special chapter on 
the evil eye which he endeavouis to explain and of which he gives 
some notable examples. By relating an anecdote about a snake- 
charmer in the court of Caliph Mansfir, he shows that there is 
much truth in spells. (2) He also lends his name to the stereo- 
typed theory of the origion of the Arabic language and its being 
spoken for the first time by Isma'il who was born of non- Arab 
parents. (3) It is rather difficult to decide whether on these 
occasions Al-Jahiz is merely narrating facts as they have been 
handed down, or giving them as his personal views. 

Though Jahiz has been reckoned as one of the greatest religi- 
ous thinkers of his time and all over the Islamic world his books on 
theology were keenly sought after(4), nevertheless, even in his 
life-time, a reaction had unfortunately begun to make itself 
evident in the Caliphate in favour of the traditional theology, a 
movement hostile to the M'utazilites. Al-Jahiz laments in his 
treatise on the Nabita that the traditionalists studied the Kalam 
and made use of it against them. 

The position of those who had inherited any foreign philo- 
sophic thought gradually became more and more unsatisfactory 
and even impossible. In 260 A. H., five years after the death 
of Jihiz, was born Al-Ash'ari whose doctrines eventually killed 
speculation on religion. He gave such a blow to the rationalistic 
views of the M'utazila that they never rose again. How Al-Jahiz 
was viewed under this new regime of orthodoxy would be 


(1) See Ibu Hishatn, pp. 794-795- A „„ 

(2) For the superstitions see Haywaii, Vol. 11., pp. 

p. 71. 

(3) Bayan, Vol. Ill, pp. 144*45- 

(4) Y&qtit’s Mujam Al-udabtl, Vol. VI., p. 73- 


47* 


117-198 and Vol. III., 



THE VISVA-BHARATJ QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


172 

pretty clear from the following quotation from al-Baghdadi 
(d. 429 A.H.). After stating and refuting all the so-called 
heresies of Jahiz he says :(i) 

The followers of Al-Jahiz were led away by the beauty of the language, 
used by him in his books about which one might say : “They are compo- 
sitions which are clear, though they have no meaning ; and contain words 
which terrify, though they have no substance.” Had they known the 
ignorance shown in his heresies, far from ascribing beauties to him, they 
would have begged Allah’s pardon for calling him a man. 

And to whoever boasts about Al-JShiz we commend the saying of the 
oithodox about him in the words of the poet concerning him : 

If ihe ugliness of the swine is doubled 

His ugliness would still be inferior to that of aU Jahiz 

A man who himself is a substitute for hell 

And a mote in the eye of everyone who looks at him . 

And this harsli criticism is simply due to the fact that Jahiz 
was not narrow-minded enough to confine himself to those facts 
and theories alone which were centuries old, and believed that 
like all other human institutions religion also was governed by 
the universal law of development and evolution and that for its 
survival it must adapt itself to its environment. 

The great ideal of Al-Jahiz was to effect a compromise 
between Islamic theology and philosophy ; but, in whatever way 
we may value that to-day, the fact remains that, according to the 
judgment of his own age, he did not achieve his purpose. 

(1) Rita bnl Farq baynal Firaq, pp. 180-182 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 

By Rabindranath Tagore. 

I have a letter in which I was asked to give my opinion about 
institutional religion. 

As an abstract idea 1 have nothing to say against it. It is, 
like the caste system, perfect when ideally represented. Men can 
be classified according to their inherent differences in tempera- 
ment. If all the natural Brahmins came together to carry on 
the work which was only for them to perform, then, through their 
mutual encouragement and co-operation . a tremendous force 
could be generated lor the good of man. 

But, directly a group is formed, its personality almost always 
gives rise to an egoism which judges its own value by its external 
success and physical duration. The sect struggles foi bigness 
and for self-preservation even at the cost of truth. The growing 
consciousness of its own distinction develops into a pride, which 
like the pride of wealth is a temptation. 


It is extremely difficult to become truly Christian, and vet, 
by following the easy path of belonging to a Christian seet, one 
seems to acquire the merit of being a Christian, and to have a right 
to despise even one’s betters who by chance or choice do not 
profess Christianity. This has invariably been the case in all 
religions which crystallise themselves into sectarianism. Reli- 
gious communities are more often formed upon custom and herd 
habit than upon truth. 

The children born to a Christian family are included in the 
community, not because they have proved their fitness to belong 
to it, but because of the accident of birth. They do not have the 
time or opportunity to discover their own inclination towards the 
religion they profess. They are persistently hypnotised into 
believing that they are Christians, and so we often witness the 
scene of men preaching Christianity, as missionaries or even as 



174 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


bishops, to their unchristian fellow-beings, whom they would 
have killed without a qualm as soldiers, or held down for ever 
under their heels as diplomats, — had they followed their own true 
vocations. 


An Institution which brings together individuals who are 
profoundly true in their common aspiration is a great help to its 
members ; but if, by its very constitution, it offers accommodation 
to those who merely have the uniformity of habit, and not the 
unity of true faith, it necessarily becomes a breeding place of 
untruths. And because all organisations, by the virtue of their 
combining power, mechanically acquire a certain amount of force, 
such untruths find a ready opportunity to create widespread 
mischief. 

Christ, like all other spiritual personalities, was solitary in 
his greatness and yet he had his pure relationship, through truth 
and love, with all humanity. His spirit works in solitude in the 
depth of men’s souls and therefore, while we find great-hearted 
individuals to be on the side of the people who are oppressed and 
insulted, the Church is often on the side of vested interest and 
established power which have come into being for exploiting the 
weak. This is because the Church as an organisation is a 
power which has its natural alliance with other powers that are 
not only non-religious but very often irrelegious ; in fact, it is 
even ready to make its bargain with the very powers that crucified 
Christ. 


It is a truism to say that the character of the majority of the 
members in any community determines the level of its ideal; 
and therefore an institution which is indiscriminate in the choice 
of its materials, and which has an inordinate greed for the aug- 
mentation of its numbers, very often also becomes the most effi- 
cient organ for expressing the collective passion of its members. 

Have you not noticed this during the late war? And does 



July, ig’j] 


NOTES AND COMMENTS 


U5 


not the profession of Christianity, in its sectarian aspect, fashion, 
in times of peace, a cloak of respectability which covers a multi- 
tude of sins ? 

I know that a community of God -seekers is a great shelter for 
man, but directly it grows into an institution it is apt to give 
ready access to the devii by its back door. All the same the fact 
cannot be ignored that Religion has ever sought its shelter in 
institutions ; in fact, when the former is independent of the 
latter, it is not recognised as a religion at all. 

This is the case with the harvest of religious thoughts, reaped 
in a great period of Indian history, which is garnered in the 
Upanishads. These had nothing to do with any institution ; they 
never harboured any creeds, nor built rigid walls round them of 
logical consistency; and therefore people brought up in the 
atmosphere of some sectarian religion consider the texts contained 
in them merely as so many seeds of religious Philosophy. But 
there can be no doubt that these seeds came out of the fruit of a 
true life of religion, fully lived. Such religion is no less a religion 
because it is free from the bondage of sect. 

What is remarkable about the religion of the Upanishads is 
that, though it was worked out by individuals who were not tied 
1o each other by a common bond of conformity, a natural cord of 
unity nevertheless runs through their different thoughts of all 
variety of shades. For myself, I believe in such freedom of 
spiritual realisation, and I feel that the habit of obedience produced 
by the constant guidance of fixed creeds and ever-watchful sects 
enfeebles the spiritual instinct of man and gives rise to materialistic 
ideas disguised in religious phraseology. 


The letter, to which I began by referring, came to my mind 
once again when I read the chapter on the Upanishads in Pro! 
Radhakrishnan’s book on Indian Philosophy. Not being a 
scholar or a student of philosophy, T do not feel justified in writing 
a critical appreciation of any description about the Philosophy of 
the Upanishads. What T venture to do is, to express my satis- 
faction at the fact that my friend, Prof. Radhakrishnan, has 



176 TIIK VJ SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

undertaken to explain the spirit of the Upanishads to English 
readers, hoping that it will help some of them in the training of 
their attitude of mind towards the reality which is spiritual. 

It is not enough that one should know the meaning of the 
words and the grammar of the Sanskrit texts in order to realise 
the deeper significance of the utterances that have come to us 
across centuries of vast changes, both of the mental as well as the 
external conditions of life. Once the language in which these 
were written was a living one and, therefore, the words contained 
in them had their full context in the life of the people of that 
period, who spoke them. Divested of that vital atmosphere a 
large part of the language of these great texts offer to us merely 
its philological structure and not life’s subtle gesture which can 
express through suggestions all that is ineffable. 


For an illustration let me refer to that stanza of Keats’ Ode 
to a Nightingale , which ends with the following lines : 

The same that oft-times hath 
Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam 
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn. 

All these words have their synonyms in our Bengali language. 
But, if through their help I try to understand the above lines 
or express the idea contained in them, the result would be con- 
temptible. Should I suffer from a sense of race superiority in our 
own people, and have a low opinion of English literature, I could 
do nothing better in my support than literally to translate or to 
paraphrase in our own tongue all the best poems written in 
English. 


Unfortunately the Upanishads have met with such treatment, 
at least in some parts of the West, and the result is typified 
disastrously in a book like Gough’s Philosophy of the Upa- 
nishads. My experience of philosophical writings being 
extremely meagre, I may be wrong when I say that this is the 



July, 1924 ] 


NOTES AND COMMENTS 


177 


only philosophical discussion about the Upanishads in English, 
but at any rate the lack of sympathy and respect displayed in it 
for these collections of the most sacred .voids that have ever issued 
from the human mind, is amazing. 

Though a number of symbolical expressions used in the 
Upanishads can hardly be understood to-day, or are sure to be 
wrongly interpreted, yet the messages contained in these, like 
some eternal source of light, still illumine and vitalise the reli- 
gious mind of India. They are not associated with any particular 
religion, but they nave the breadth of a universal soil that can 
supply with living sap all religions which have any spiritual ideal 
hidden at their core, or apparent in their fruit and foliage. Reli- 
gions, which have their different standpoints, each claim them 
for their own support. 

This has been possible because the Upanishads are based not 
upon theological reasoning, but on experience of spiritual life. 
And life is not dogmatic ; in it opposing forces are reconciled — 
the ideas of non-dualism and dualism, the infinite and the finite, 
do not exclude each other. Moreover the Upanishads do not re- 
present the spiritual experience of any one great individual, but 
of a great age of enlightenment which has a complex and collective 
manifestation, like that of the starry world. Different creeds 
may find their sustenance from them, but never can set sectarian 
boundaries round them ; generations of men in our country, no 
mere students of philosophy, but seekers of life’s fulfilment, may 
make living use of the texts, but can never exhaust them of their 
freshness of meaning. 

For such men the Upanishad ideas are not wliollv abstract, 
like those belonging to the region of pure logic. They are 
concrete, like all truths realised through life. The idea of 
Brahma when judged from the view point of intellect is an abstrac- 
tion, but it is concretely real for those who have the direct vision 
to see it. Therefore the consciousness of the reality of Brahma 
has boldly been described to be as real as his consciousness of an 
amlaka fruit held in one’s palm. And the Upanishad says : 

Yato vacho nivartante aprapya manasa saha. 

Anandam Brahmano vidvan na vibheti kad&chana. 



178 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

From Him come back baffled both words and mind. Bui he who 
realises the joy of Brahma is free from fear. 

Cannot the same thing be said about light itself to men who 
may happen, by some mischance, to live all their life in an under- 
ground world cut off from the sun’s rays ? They must know that 
words can never describe to them what light is, and that the mind, 
through its reasoning faculty, can never even understand how one 
must have a direct vision to realise it intimately and be glad and 
free from fear. 


We often hear the complaint that the Brahma of the 
Upanishads is described to us mostly as a bundle of negations. 
Are we not driven to take the same course ourselves, when a blind 
man asks for a description of light? Have we not to say in such 
a case that light has neither sound, nor taste, nor form, nor 
weight, nor resistance, nor can it be known through any process 
of analysis ? Of course it can be seen ; but what is the use of 
saying this to one who has no eyes ? He may take that statement 
on trust without understanding in the least what it means, or may 
altogether disbelieve it, even suspecting in us some abnormality. 

Does the truth of the fact that a blind man has missed the 
perfect development of what should be normal about his eyesight 
depend for its proof upon the fact that a larger number of men are 
not blind? The first creature which suddenly groped into the 
possession of its eve-sight had the right to assert that light was a 
reality. In the human world there may be very few who have 
their spiritual eyes open, but, in spite of the numerical pre- 
pondereuce of those who cannot see, their want of vision must not 
be cited as an evidence of the negation of light. 

In the Upanishads we find the note of certainty about the 
spiritual meaning of existence. In the very pradoxical nature of 
the assertion that we can never know Brahma, but can realise 
Him, there lies the strength of conviction that comes from per- 
sinal experience. They aver that through our joy we know the 
reality that is infinite, for the test by which reality is apprehended 



July, 1924] 


NOTES AND COMMENTS 


179 


is joy. Therefore in the Upaiiishads Satyam and Anandam are 
one. Does not this idea harmonise with our everyday experience? 


It has been said by some that the element of personality has 
altogether been ignored in the Brahma of the Upanishads and 
thus our own personality, according to them, find no response 
in the Infinite Truth. But what then is the meaning of the 
exclamation : 


Vcdabametam purusham mahantam. 

1 have known him who is the Supreme Person ! 

Did not the sage, who pronounced it, at the same time pro- 
claim that we are all amritasya putrah, sons of the Immortal? 

Elsewhere it has been declared : 

Tam vedyam purusham veda yatha ma vo mrityuh parivyathah. 

Know him, the Person who only is to be known, so that death 
may not grieve thee. 

The meaning is obvious. We are afraid of death, because 
we are afraid of the absolute cessation of our personality There- 
fore, if we realise the Person as the ultimate reality, whom we 
know in everything that we know, we find our own deathless 
personality in the bosom of the eternal. 


There are numerous verses in the Upanishad which speak of 
immortality. I quote one of these : 

Eshadevo visvakarmi mahzUma 
sada jananam hridayc sannivishtah 
hridi manislia manasa viklipto 
ya etad vidur amritSs te bhavanti. 



l8o THE VISVA-BHAKAT1 QUARTER?, Y [Sravana, 1331 

This is the God who is the world-worker, the supreme soul, 
who always dwells in the heart of all men; those who know him 
through their mind, and the heart that is full of the certainty of 
knowledge , become immortal. 

To realise with the heart and mind the divine being who 
dwells within ns is to be assured of everlasting life. It is 
mahdlmd the great reality of the inner being, which is visva- 
karmd the world-worker, whose manifestation is in the outer work 
occupying all time and space. 

Our own personality also consists of an inner truth which 
expresses itself in outer movements. When we realise, not mere- 
ly through our intellect, but through our heart strong with the 
strength of its wisdom, that Mahatma, the Infinite Person, dwells 
in the Person which is in me, we cross over the region of death. 
Death only concerns our limited self ; when the Person in us is 
realised in the supreme Person then the limits of our self lose for 
us their finality. 


The question necessarily arises, what is the significance of 
this self of ours ? Is it nothing but an absolute bondage for us ? 

If this world were ruled only by some law of forces then it 
would certainly have hurt out mind at every step and there would 
be nothing that could give us joy for its own sake. But the 
Upanisliad says that from Ananda , from an inner spirit of Bliss, 
have come out all things and by it they are maintained. There- 
fore, in spite of contradictious, we have our joy in life, we have 
experiences that carry their final value for us. 

■' d-ill'l 

It has been said, that the Infinite Reality finds its revelation 
in dnanda-rdpam amritam, in the deathless form of joy. The 
supreme end of our personality also is to express itself in its crea- 
tions. But works done through the compulsion of necessity or 
some passion that blinds us and drags us on with its impetus, 
are fetters for our soul; they do not express the wealth of the 
infinite in us, but merely our want or our weakness. 



July, 1Q24 ] 


NOTES AND COMMENTS 


1S1 


Our soul has its dnandatn, its consciousness of the infinite 
which is blissful. This seeks its expression in limits which, 
when they assume the harmony of forms and the balance of move- 
ments, constantly indicate the limitless. Such expression is 
freedom, freedom trom the barrier of obscurity. Such a medium 
of limits we have in our self which is our medium of expression. 
It is for us to develop this into dnanda-,ilpam amritam, an em- 
bodiment of deathless joy, and only then the infinite in 11s can no 
longer remain obscured. 


This self of ours can also be moulded to give expression to 
the personality of a business man, or a fighting man, or a working 
man, but in these it does not reveal our supreme reality, and 
therefore therein we remain shut up in a prison of our own cons- 
truction. Self finds its dnanda-rupam , which is its freedom in 
revelation, when it reveals a truth that transcends self, like a lamp 
revealing light which goes far beyond its material limits, pro- 
claiming its kinship with the sun. When our self is illuminated 
with the light of love, then the negative aspect of its separateness 
with others loses its finality, and then our relationship w ; th others 
is no longer that of competition and conflict, but of sympathy and 
co-operation. 

I feel strongly that this for ns, is the teaching of the 
Upanishads and that this teaching is very much needed in the 
present age for those who boast of the freedom of their nations, 
using that freedom for building up a dark world of spiritual 
blindness, where the passions of greed and hatred are allowed to 
roam unchecked, having for their allies deceitful diplomacy and 
wide-spread propaganda of falsehood, where the soul remains 
caged and the self battens upon the decaying flesh of its victims. 



THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [ Sravana , 1331 


182 


THE DIVINE ORDER. 

Certainly, ideals are not the ultimate Reality, for that is too high and 
vast for any ideal to envisage ; they are aspects of it thrown out m the world - 
consciousness as a basis for the workings of the world-power. But they are 
primary, the actual workings secondary. 

They are nearer to the Reality and therefore always more real, forcible 
and complete than the facts which are their partial reflection. Reflections 
themselves of the Real, they again are reflected in the more concrete work- 
ings of our existence. 

The human intellect in proportion as it limits itself by the phenomena 
of self -realising Force fails to catch the creative Idea until after we have 
seen the external fact it has created ; but this order of our sense-enslaved 
consciousness is not the real order of the universe. 

God pre-exists before the world can come into being, but to our ex- 
perience in which the senses act first, and only then the finer workings of 
consciousness, the world seems to come first and God to emerge out of it, 
so much so that it costs us an effort to rise out of the mechanical pluralistic 
and pantheistic conceptions of Him to a truer and higher idea of the Divine 
Reality. That which to us is the ultimate is in truth the primary reality. 

So too the Idea which seems to us to rise out of the fact, really precedes 
it and out of it the fact has arisen. Our vulgar contrast of the ideal and 
the real is therefore a sensuous error, for that which we call real is only a 
phenomenon of force working out something that stands behind the pheno- 
menon and that is pre-existent and greater than it. The Real, the Idea,, 
the phenomenon, this is the true order of the creative Divinity. 


— Aurobindo. 



THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION 

By the Editor. 


The seer who would lead men into action is otten forced into 
a position between two fires. The vision o f truth, which conies 
to him direct and not as the conclusion of a formal intellectual 
process, is untranslateable into terms of precision such as the 
ranks may read as they run, and it has therefore to be com- 
municated in parables. This, on the one hand, simply keeps his 
honest opponents puzzled, while giving opportunity for a redtu tio 
ad absurdum to those who are otherwise. On the other hand, 
his chains tend to grow into the worst enemies of his Ideal by 
parading as a sectarian fetish that which their guru had given 
them as a working symbol. 

This is wh it Mahatma Gandhi seems now called upon to 
contend with ; and, trust him as we may to take care of the 
principles for which he stands, he should command, at this 
juncture from his true admirers, be they for or against any parti- 
cular item on his programme, a frank and considered submission 
of their doubts and difficulties, if not of helpful suggestions. 

We contribute, as our mite towards this end, sundry 
thoughts from two western Idealists, placing first before our 
readers certain difficulties in the words of M. Romain Rollaud(i) 
who cannot be accused of bias and than whom no looker on is more 
fitted to judge of ideals and their working. And thereupon we 
shall offer certain solutions discussed by Mr. Arthur J. Penty(2). 

M. Rolland, after introducing his hero as the man who has 
stirred three hundred million people to revolt, who has shaken 
the foundations of the British Empire, and who has introduced 
into human politics the strongest religious impetus of the last 
two thousand years, proceeds with his study of the Mahatma’s 
activities, so far as they relate to recent Indian politics, as follows. 


(1) Mahatma Gandhi, by Romain Rolland, London ; The Swartliniore Press Ltd. 

(2) Post-Industrialism, by Arthur J. Peuty, London; George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 



184 


THE V 1 SVA-BHARAT 1 QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


Tt should be noted that when Gandhi stepped into the 
political field as leader of the opposition to the Rowlatt bills, he 
was moved only by a desire to spare the country from violence. 
The revolt was bound to come ; the point, therefore, was to turn 
it into non-violent channels. 

To understand Gandhi’s activity, it should be realised that 
below it is the solid groundwork, the basic foundation, of religion, 
but that the political and social campaign, which is based thereon, 
is not the ideal continuation of this unshakeable foundation, being 
only the best structure possible under present conditions. 

Gandhi believes in the religion of his people, in Hinduism. 
But he is not a scholar, attached to the punctilious interpretation 
of texts, nor is he a blind believer accepting unquestioningly 
all the traditions of his religion. His religion must satisfy his 
reason and his conscience. 

Nor does he look upon Hinduism as the only religion, and 
this is a very important point. “1 believe the Bible the Koran, 
and the Zend A vesta to be as divinely inspired as the Vedas. 
Hinduism tells every one to worship God according to his own 
faith and so it lives at peace with all religions.” Gandhi claims 
that the revelation of passive resistance came to him after reading 
the Sermon on the Mount, in 1893. 

Ever since Rousseau, our Western Civilisation has been 
attacked by the greatest and broadest minds of Europe. When 
Asia began to revolt against Western oppression, she had only to 
peer into Europe’s own files to compile formidable records of the 
iniquity of her so-called civilised invaders. Gandhi did not fail 
to do so. Further, in the depths to which Europe sank during 
the last war, called the “War for Civilisation” she, in her 
insanity, even invited the peoples of Asia and Africa to contem- 
plate her nudity. They saw her and judged her. 

Gandhi had however seen the real face of western civilisa- 
tion long before 1914. It had revealed itself to him unmasked 
during liir. twenty years campaign in South Africa. This 
civilisation says Gandhi, is civilisation in name only. In 
reality it corresponds to what Hinduism calls the Dark Age. 
It has set up material well-being as the only goal of life. It 
scorns spiritual values. It means hell for the weak and the 



July, 1924 ] THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION. 185 

working classes. India’s aim should be to repudiate this western 
civilisation. 

The nucleus of modern civilisation, its heart, so to speak, is 
machinery. The machine has become a monstrous idol. It 
must be done away with. To a free India, heir to British 
machinery, Gandhi would prefei an India dependent on the 
British market. Indian progressives, imbued with modem ideas, 
ask what would become of India it she were to have no railroads, 
t-amways, or industries? Tu which Gandhi replies that 
thousands of years ago India learned the art of self-control and 
mastered the science of happiness. She does not need the 
machinery of large cities. Her ancient prospeiity was founded 
on the plough and the spinning wheel, and on her philosophy. 
India must go back to the sources of her ancient culture. 

This is Gandhi’s fundamental argument. It stands for a 
definite denial of Europe’s so-called progress, a repudiation of 
her scientific achievement. The youthful Occident, on the other 
hand, carried away by its own speed, does not realise sufficiently 
that its own law of progress is subject to eclipses, baek-slidings 
and recommencements. Hence *he conflict. 


M. Rolland merely notes here that this important question 
demands discussion. 

But what if the West in its obsession, is unable to correct 
itself until too late? Shall the East, which allowed itself to be 
caught in the toils of this mechanical civilisation, fascinated by 
its momentary glamour, allow itself to be dragged to its doom, 
now that its eyes are opened, without at least one last struggle 
of its yet undefeated spirit ? Let us see what light M. Rolland 
has to throw on the struggle which is in progress, before we go on 
to the discussion which he says is demanded. 

Gandhi, continues M. Rolland, never asks men for more 
than they can give. But he asks for all that they can give. 
Gandhi knows what he may demand of India and India is pre- 
pared to give whatever Gandhi may demand. 

“I know” says Gandhi “that Swaraj is the object of the 



1 86 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


nation and not non-violence.” And he adds, — words amazing on 
his lips — “I would rather see India freed by violence than chain- 
ed like a slave to her foreign oppressors.” But, he continues, cor- 
recting himself at once, this is an impossible supposition, for 
violence can never free India. Swaraj can only be attained by 
soul force — Satvagraha — which he also defines as truth-force and 
love -force. 

Exalted pride, the Mahatma’s proud love of India, demands 
that she should scorn violence as unworthy and be ready to 
sacrifice herself. Non-violence is her title of nobility. If she 
abandons it she falls. Gandhi cannot bear the thought. 

In 1921 Gandhi’s power was at its apogee. The people 
looked upon him as a saint. He was the undisputed master of 
India’s policy. It was up to him to start a political revolution if 
he thought fit, or even to reform religion. He did not wish to 
do so. Moral grandeur? Moral hesitancy? Both perhaps. I 
will try to explain my feeling in regard to the living enigma, 
with the religious respect I have for this great man and the 
sincerity I owe to his sincerity. 

Gandhi is an exception among prophets and mystics, for he 
sees no visions, has no revelations ; he does not try to persuade 
himself that he is guided su pern atur ally, nor does he try to make 
others believe it. He sanctions no tyranny, not even for the good 
of the cause. He does not set up his country against other 
countries ; his patriotism is not confined to the boundaries of 
Tndia. He says : “A patriot is so much less a patriot if he is a 
lukewarm humanitarian.” 

But have his disciples always felt this way? On their lips, 
what becomes of Gandhi’s doctrine, and, interpreted by them, 
how does it reach the masses? Mr. D. N. Kalekar writes a 
Gospel of Swadeshi, which Gandhi stamps with his approval. 
The conclusion of this runs as follows : 

Wo should avoid being intimate with those whose social customs are 
different from ours. We should not mingle in the lives of men or people 
whose ideals are different from ours. Every man is a brook. Every 
nation is a river. They must follow their course, clear and pure, till they 
reach the Sea of Salvation, where all will blend. 



July, 1Q24 ] THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION. 


187 


What is this but the triumph of nationalism ? The narrowest 
and most unpolluted ? Why does Gandhi let his magnificent 
ideal, a message for the whole world, be imprisoned within the 
narrow bounds of an Indian theocracy ? Beware of disciples ! 
The purer they are, the more pernicious. 

But this is not all. While the disciples who live near the 
master are at least tinged by his noble spirituality, what about 
the disciples of his disciples, and the others, the masses, to whom 
the doctrine comes merely as v igue and broken echoes ? 

The distinction : “Hate Satanism while loving Satan’’ is 
a little too subtle for the average man to grasp. And when public 
speakers dwell on the crimes and trencher} of the English, anger 
and rancour pile up behind the sluices ; and beware when the 
sluices burst. 

When Gandhi, explaining why he advocates the burning of 
foreign stuffs, says to C. F. Andrews that he is transferring ill 
will from men to things, he does not realise that the fury of the 
masses is gathering impetus, and that instinctively these masses 
leason : “things first, men next.’’ He does not foresee that in 
less than three months afterwards men will be killing men. 

Gandhi is too much of a saint. He is too free from the 
animal passions that lie dormant in man. Beware the mob! 
The moral precepts of a Gandhi will not be able to curb it. The 
only way, perhaps, to prevent it from running wild, would be fol- 
ium to pose as an incarnated god. But Gandhi’s sincerity and 
humility prevent him from playing this role. 

And what will come now ? Will this people remain true to 
its ideal? Nations have short memories, and T should have but 
slight faith in India’s power to remain true to the Mahatma’s 
teaching, if his doctrines were not an expression of the deepest 
and most ancient longings of the race. 

In India there are still too many who do not see beyond 
Swaraj. Incidentally, I imagine that this political goal will soon 
be reached. Europe, bled by wars and revolutions, impoverished 
and exhausted, despoiled of her prestige, cannot long resist on 
Asiatic soil the aspirations of the awakened people of Asia. 

But this would mean little, if the surging spirit of Asia did 
not become the vehicle for a new ideal of life and of death, and 



l 88 THE VISVA-BHARAXI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

what is more, of action, for all humanity. The world is swept by 
the wind of violence. Centuries of brutal national pride, whetted 
by the idolatrous idealogy of the Revolution, spread by the empty 
mockery of the democracies and crowned by a century of inhuman 
industrialism, a materialistic system of economics where the soul 
perishes, were bound to culminate in these dark struggles. 

We know the material ties that weigh on twentieth century 
Europe, the crushing determinism of economic conditions that 
hem it in ; we know that centuries of passions and systematised 
error have built a crust about our souls which the light cannot 
pierce. But we also know what miracles the spirit can work. 

I have this faith. I know it is scorned and persecuted in 
Europe, and that in my own land we are but a handful who believe 
in it. But even if I were the only one to believe in it, what would 
it matter? Faith is a battle. And our non-violence is the most 
desperate battle. The way to Peace is not through weakness. 
We do not fight violence so much as weakness. Moaning 
pacifism is the death-knell of Peace; it is cowardice and lack of 
faith. Let those who do not believe, who fear, withdraw. The 
way to peace leads through self-sacrifice, this is Gandhi’s 
message. 

The great religious apparitions of the Orient are ruled by a 
rhythm. One thing is certain : Either Gandhi’s spirit will 
triumph, or it will manifest itself again, — as were manifested, 
centuries before, the Buddha and the Messiah, — till there finally 
is manifested, in a mortal half-god, the perfect incarnation of the 
principle of life which will lead a new humanity on to a new path. 


Let us stop here, with M. Rollaud’s burning message of 
hope, and come back to the first point of difficulty indicated by 
him, — the charge of the return to Medievalism levelled against 
the Mahatma’s programme by reason of his revolt against the 
machine, and incidentally to the question sometimes raised, but 
never definitely discussed, that inasmuch as the plough the 
i harka, the loom and the like are also machines, where should 
the line be drawn and why ? 

On these points the observations of Mr. Penty, though not 



July, 1924 J Thoughts on the present situation. 


189 


directed by him to the Mahatma or to India, deserve anxious 
consideration at the hands of our countrymen. With the pluck 
of a true idealist, Mr. Penty does not shirk the point ; with the 
conviction of a man who has seen and done things for himself, 
he indicates the remedy. We give below the substance of his 
argument as far as possible in his own words. 

Among the changes in thought that have come about as a 
result of the war, the most significant is the changed attitude 
towards Industrialism. Before the war >'t was taken for granted 
by most people as a thing of permanence and stability, while it 
was everywhere assumed that whatever evils were associated with 
it were incidental, and would disappear before the march of pro- 
gress. Now-a-days all that is changed. 

The Socialist theory of social evolution, based upon the 
assumption that machinery is a creative force, has been entirely 
falsified by experience, since so far from new forms of social 
order and new traditions arising in response to the stimulus of 
the machine, as Marx predicted, the unrestricted use of 
machinery has proved to be purely destructive. 

The evidence that industrialism is a blind alley from which 
we must retrace our steps or perish, becomes more conclusive 
every day. Whatever excuse there may be for the mistaken 
judgments of Owen and Marx, there is simply no excuse for 
socialists to-day, — the cancer of industrialism has begun to 
mortify, and the end is in sight. 

It is urgent that we should seek to return to the point at 
which we lost our way. Such being the case, medievalism is not 
romanticism, but rather the last word in utilitarianism, as all 
must sooner or later find out. It challenges the conception of 
progress through an indiscriminating industrial advance by 
reference to a past age which, whatever may have been its defects, 
was at any rate free from the more fatal defects of the present. 

The modern world is not interested in medievalism, not 
because it is more realistic, but because it lives on phrases and 
disregards things, because it is satisfied with words like progress, 
emancipation, liberty, which can be twisted to mean anything, 
because it is not interested in fundamental things. 



I9O THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 133 r 

In this view, the problem of machinery has a positive and a 
negative aspect. Its negative aspect is to prevent the further 
destruction of the traditions of civilisation, and its positive aspect 
is the re-creation of such traditions as the misuse of machinery in 
the past has destroyed. 

When we come of think of things in this way, we begin to 
see that though machinery has been the more active agent in the 
destruction of our traditions, yet it is by no means the only agent 
and that it would not have been anything like so destructive had 
it not gone hand in hand with the subdivision of labour. 

To explain w r hat I mean it will be necessary to make clear 
the difference between the division of labour which is a natural 
and normal thing, and the sub-division of labour, which is both 
unnatural and abnormal. 

The division of labour is a necessity of any civilised society 
since, as it is obvious that a man cannot supply all his own needs, 
the labour of the community must be divided between different 
occupations. One man is a potter, another a weaver, a third a 
carpenter and so forth ; upto this point the division of labour is 
justified, not merely because it is a necessity of civilisation, but 
because it enlarges the life of the individual and his opportunities 
for self-expression. In the seventeenth century, however, under 
the impulse of profit-making a further development took place. 

The classical example of the sub-division of labour is that 
eulogised by Adam Smith, namely pin making, in which industry 
it takes twenty men to make a pin, each man being specialised for 
a lifetime upon a single process. This sub-division of labour and 
its recent development into scientific management are the curses 
of industrial civilisation, for by reducing men to automatons they 
reduce them to mere fragments of men ; they undermine their 
spiritual, moral and physical life and disintegrate their per- 
sonality, while by giving rise to gluts in the market they lead 
inevitably to sweating and economic insecurity. 

Of course this system cannot last. Its own activities are 
generating toxins which are poisoning it. For while on the one 
hand it is giving rise to wholesale incompetence, on the other, by 
destroying all charm in work and turning it into hated toil, it has 
roused a spirit of class hatred that expresses itself in revolt. 



July, ig24\ THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION. 


191 

Moreover it uses up our natural resources at such a ruinous rate 
that, apart from any other consideration, the limit of exhaustion 
must soon be reached. 

Over-specialisation is the bane of the modern world and it 
affects the intellectual worker not perhaps in the same degree, 
but with consequences as potent for evil as those which are 
deplored in the world of labour. It is said that in Germany 
specialisation, before the war, had reached such a development 
that each individual became a monomaniac in his own subject ! 

To this development of specialisation a limit must be placed 
somewhere. In the intellectual world no line can be drawn and 
the only remedy is to exalt the idea of a cultmal unity. Hut ir, 
industry it is different. There a line can and should be drawn 
and I submit it should be through the point which craft develop- 
ment had reached before the sub-division of labour replaced the 
division of labour. To suffer specialisation to proceed further 
is, to use an engineering term, to trespass on the margin of 
safety. 

If society is to be reconstructed on a basis that allows for a 
margin of safety, scientific management and the sub-division of 
labour must be abolished and a return made to handicraft as the 
basis of production, using machinery only in an accessory way. 
If this be done machinery might become a blessing instead of the 
curse it is to-day. It is because machinery has for the most 
part followed along the lines laid down bv sub-division of labour 
that it has been so grossly misapplied. At all costs the tradi- 
tional normal human relationships that are to be found at the 
centre of a normal society must be restored, and the use of 
machinery limited in such a way as not to interfere with them. 

The truth is, of course, that all creative woi'k is finally 
personal. It originates in one mind, though the assistance of 
others may be used to earn, it into effect; We speak of the 
architecture of the Middle Ages being democratic, and it was 
democratic in the sense that the individual worker enjoyed a 
liberty in respect to the details of his work that is impossible to- 
day. Yet it was hierarchical at the same time. No building 
was the work of a committee, but of an individual who knew how 
to avail himself of the creative capacity of his subordinates. 



19.2 


THE VlSVA-BIIARATl QUARTERLY [ Sravana , 1331 


It is to this Medieval system that we must get back. It is 
not incompatible with the use of a certain amount of machinery 
for doing the rougher and heavier work, but it is incompatible 
with the sub-division of labour. 

But, it will be said, these things may be so, yet it is hopeless 
to abolish the sub-division of labour or to limit the use of 
machinery. The worker of to-day has no experience of the 
handicrafts, and has become too much a part of the system to 
rebel against it. To which I answer that, while not denying the 
truth iu such scepticism, yet the question is, not finally how I or 
anybody else is going to change the industrial system, but how 
the capitalists and their blind followers are going to preserve it 
from destruction. 

When people speak of changing the system, they very often 
mean little more than changing the ownership of the system. 
Hence, the real issue with them is finally the problem of how 
power is to be attained. But it is obvious that the attain- 
ment of power and a capacity to use it for the public advantage 
are two entirely different things. The Laborities do not recog- 
nise the existence of the problem of men and machines that lie 
at the centre of the economic problem and, because they do not, 
they are as impotent in the face of the present economic morass 
as any previous government. 

Marx saw that the investment and re-investment of surplus 
wealth for further increase would, in the long run, produce an 
economic deadlock, but what he did not see was that his process 
of industrial development was not only destructive of capitalism, 
but of the very fabric of society, that the unrestricted use of 
machinery and mechanical methods would bring into existence 
a civilisation so complex that the human mind would be unable 
to comprehend all its multitudinous interconnections. And be- 
cause our modern civilisation makes demands on our alertness 
and many-sideness with which our wits and sympathies cannot 
cope, it tends to degenerate into anarchy. 

Recognising, as we do, that our industrial system is in a 
state of disintegration, the problem that presents itself is, not how 
to capture or overthrow the existing system, but how a new 



July, 1924 ] THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION. 


193 


civilisation can be built out of its ruins. Accepting the position 
that our industrial system is doomed, we should deal with our 
unemployed as individual men, rather than in the mass, and set 
to work to turn them into agriculturists and handicraftsmen. 
There should be no more difficulty about that, if undertaken in 
a public way, than there was abc.ut turning civilians into soldiers 
during the war. 


Pausing for a moment to mark our gratification at the 
remarkable way in which Mr. Polity's conclusions coincide with 
the lines of rural reconstruction adopted by Visva-bharati in 
Sriniketan, ve shall conclude by giving the equally luminous 
exposition of this British idealist of the mechanical degeneration 
which is threatening to overtake democracy itself, — again a wel- 
come contribution from overseas to the Visva-bharati Ideal. 


One immediate practical difficulty which stands in the way 
of the re-organisation of society on a democratic basis is the 
tendency of modern collective activit}' to be choked by a multi- 
plicity of committees. It matters not what the nature of the 
activity may be, — cultuial or political, official or non-official, — 
the same fate overtakes all modern people whenever they attempt 
to act together. 

If we reflect on this phenomenon, only two deductions can 
be made from it. Either democracy is an impossible ideal; or 
our conception of democracy is a false one. The latter I believe 
to be the true explanation. 

Society was more democratic in the Middle Ages. The law 
was supreme. The king was as much subject to it as any of his 
subjects. The government was also democratic, but not in the 
modern sense, for it was government by consent rather than by 
election. Democracy to-day is identified with the idea of 
majority rule. The exaggeration of this idea leads to all the 
tiouble, inasmuch as when men come to believe that there is 
something sacrosanct about majority rule, they waste such an 
amount of time in discussing points of procedure and all kinds of 
inconsequential things, that no time is left for the things that 



194 the VISVA-BHARATT QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

really matter, with the result that majority rule defeats its own 
ends. 

The waste of time in a general committee resulting from 
attempts to realise the democratic principle, leads to the appoint- 
ment of sub-committees to deal with details. With the exten- 
sion of activities the average committee man gets lost amidst the 
complexity of detail, until a time comes when only the permanent 
officials understand the business in hand. When that point is 
reached, substantial power tends to pass into their hands entirely. 
The democratic form is retained but its reality goes. 

This is the inevitable ending of all democratic bodies as at 
present constituted. They get things done, but not in the way 
that anjr one particularly desires they should be done ; this 
provokes rebellion within the body, the rebels assuming that they 
suffer because of too little democracy ; whereas the truth is we 
suffer at the same time from too much and too little — too much 
democratic machinery, too little democratic spirit. 

Our democratic ideas have been inherited from Rousseau ; 
but, as a matter of fact, for Rousseau democracy was only a 
means to an end, not an end in itself, the end being government 
by the wise. The whole trouble of the modern world, from one 
point of view, is precisely that the best and the wisest do not 
automatically come to he top under democracy any more than 
under any other form of government. A capacity for public 
speaking, rather than personal character, becomes the primary 
qualification for public life. With this conies about a deteriora- 
tion in the type of public representative and, consequent on this 
decline, there grows up a political machine which can automati- 
cally produce majorities. Lastly follows political corruption and 
jobbery and the defeat of everything that the ideal of democracy 
exists to promote. 

In the Middle Ages, king and peasant, priest and craftsman, 
were bound together by a common religious tradition which, how- 
ever much they might disagree, was stronger than their differ- 
ences. As a consequence of the modern gulf, — due to a variety 
of causes, — between the cultured and the uncultured, such 
as never existed in the past, the wise are no longer understood of 
the people. 



July, iQ 2 j\ TJlOl’CllTS ON THE 1'RKSKNT SITUATION. 


195 


In this light the problem of democracy is seen to be depen- 
dent upon our capacity to create a culture in which every member 
of the community can share. Fcr, as Ramiri de Maeztu 
observes, “men cannot unite immediately among one another; 
they unite in things, in common values, in the pursuit of 
common ends.” 

Perhaps now we may begin lo understand where the weak- 
ness of democracy is to be found. It places the love of one’s 
neighbour before the love of God. Ivven in educational institu- 
tions, which are presumably interested in cultural values, they 
do not place cultural (which is the same as spiritual) interests 
first. And, as to politics, pursued apart from a new ideal of life 
as expressed in spiritual values, it tends to lose touch with reality 
and degenerate into mere opportunism, or secret force. 

The great leader, like the great artist, subordinates himself 
to ihe needs of a great tradition. As such his spirit is necessarily 
democratic, for the true democratic spirit is not the one that seeks 
to give the public what they want, like the Northcliffe Press, but 
one that can subordinate itself to the real public need. Two very 
different things ; for the time server is the first; the great teacher 
the second. 

To what then does the great teacher subordinate himself? 
To the great communal traditions of the past, from which he 
chooses his vehicle of expression, seeking however always to 
transcend them. The truth is, that it is impossible to discover 
the future apart from an understanding of the past, as the fact 
that the modernists are invariably taken by surprise, bears 
witness. 

The original mind, as Mr. G. K. Chesterton remarks in his 
preface to Mr. Penty’s book, always goes back to oiigins. That in 
a nutshell is the justification of the leader oh the piesent move- 
ment, which is miscalled retrograde only by those who aie blind to 
everything except immediate advantage. And, in view of his 
love for the English race which the Mahatma has never lost even 
in his darkest trials, it gives us peculiar pleasure to repoit this 
unconscious vindication, coming from Great Britain itself, of the 
essentials of his policy. 



THE VlSVA-BHARATt QUARTERLY [Smi-arta, 1331 


Jbljufosb JltnkfcrjL 

It is with deep sorrow that I offer my tribute of 
appreciation to the memory of Ashniosh Muklierji. 

Men arc always rare in all countries through whom 
the aspiration of their people can hope to find Us fulfil- 
ment, who have the thundering voice to say that what is 
needed shall be done; and Ashutosh had that magic 
voice of assurance. He had the courage to dream 
because he had the power to fight and the confidence to 
win, — his will itself was the path to the goal. The 
sudden removal of the vigour of such a personality from 
among our people has caused it a reeling sense of dizzi- 
ness, like the blankness of exhaustion following a serious 
loss of blood. 

The complex personality of Ashutosh Mukherji 
had its various channels of expression. It is not in my 
power to deal in detail with his many gifts which found 
scope in so many different fields of achievement . My 
admiration rvas attracted to him where he revealed the 
freedom of mind needed for work of creation, lie had 
not the dull patience and submissive efficiency that is 
content to keep oiled and working the clock-work of an 
organisation: he despised to try and win merit by 
diligently turning the official prayer-wheel through an 
eternity of perfect monotony. It had been possible for 
him to dream of the miracle of introducing a living heart 
behind the steel framework made in the doll factory of 
bureaucracy , though this could only be done through a 
revolution upsetting the respectability of rigid routine 
and incurring thereby the displeasure of the high priest 
of the Machine-idol. 



July, 1924] 


ASHUTOSH MUKIIliRJI 


The creative spirit of life which has to assert itself 
against barren callousness must, in its struggle for 
victory, wreck things that claim only immediate value. 
We can afford to overlook such losses zehich are pitifully 
small compared to 'he great pri, e of our object which is 
Freedom. Ashutosh heroically fought against heavy 
odds for winning freedom for our education. We, who 
in our own way , have been working for the same cause, 
who deserve to he treated as outlaws by the upholders 
of law and order in the realm of the dead, had the honour 
of receiving from him the extended hand of comrade- 
ship, for which we shall ever remember him. In fact 
he removed for us the ban of official untouchability and 
opened a breach in the barricade of distrust, establishing 
a path of communication between his institution and 
our own field of work, but never asking ns to surrender 
in the least our independence. 

Ashutosh Mukherji touched the Calcutta University 
with the magic wand of his creative genius, in order to 
transform it into a living organism belonging to the life 
of the Bengali people. This was his gift of gifts to his 
country, but it is a gift of endeavour, of tapasya, which 
will reach its fulfilment only if zee know how to accept it. 



VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN 


I 

Rabindranath to Chinese Students. 

[Report of first talk, on the day of his arrival at Shanghai to a gathering of 
Chinese Students in the garden of Dr. Carsun Chang.] 

It is a day of rejoicing for me, that I who belong to a distant part of 
Asia should be invited to this land of yours, and I am deeply thankful that 
such good fortune has come to me. 

I shall make a confession. When I had your invitation I felt nervous ; 
I had read so many conflicting opinions about your religion and your 
customs that I asked myself : “What is it these people expect when they 
invite me to tlieir country, and what message is it necessary for me to take 
for their welfare?” 

Before Christmas I had been debating this and putting off the date of 
my departure, partly because I was unwell, but also, quite frankly, because 
I could not make up my mind. In the meantime, Spring broke out in my 
own land. 

A sense of compulsion had been urging me to sit down and prepare my 
lectures. Having to write in a language not my own, this preparation was 
necessary for me and took time. But Spring came and the poet heard its 
call. Day fter day tunes came into my mind, songs took shape, and I was 
lured frpm what I thought was my duty. 

Yet I could not get rid of the trouble in my heart. How was I to 
stand before my friends in China, after idling away my time doing npthing, 
or what was perhaps even worse ? But surely you don’t expect fulfilling of 
engagements from poets. They arc for capturing on their instruments the 
secret stir of life in the air and giving it voice in the music of prophecy. 
Yes, a poet’s help is needed at the time .of awakening, for only he dares 
proclaim that, without our knowing it, the ice has given way ; that the 
winter which had its narrow boundaries, its chains of ice, inhospitable and 
coldly tyrannical, is gone. The world has fpr long been in its grip, — the 
exclusive winter that keeps the human races within closed doors. But the 
doors are going to open. Spring has come. 



July, 7924] 


VISVA-BHARATl BULLETIN. 


I99 


I had my faith, thcli, that ypu would understand my idling, my defiance 
of duty. And it came to my mind : Is it not the same thing, your invita- 
tion and this invitation of the Spring breeze, which was never ignored by 
your own wayward poets who forgot their duty over the wine-cup ? I too 
Lad to break my engagements, to lose your respect, — and thereby win your 
love. In other continents they are hard taskmasters ; they insist pn every 
pound of flesh ; and there, for the sake of sHfi -preservation, I would have 
done my duty and forgotten my muse. 

I say that a poets* mission is tc attract the voice which is yet inaudible 
in the air ; to inspire faith in the dream which is unfulfilled ; to bring the 
earliest tidings of the unborn flower to a sceptic world. 

So many are there to-day who do not believe. They dp not know that 
faith in a great future itself creates that future ; that without faith you 
cannot recognise your opportunities which cpme again and again, but depart 
unheeded. Prudent men and unbelievers have created dissensions, but it is 
the eternal child, the dreamer, the man of simple faith, who has built *up 
great civilisations. This creative genius, as you will see in your own past 
history, had faith which acknowledged no limits. The modern sceptic, 
who is evei critical, can produce nothing whatever, — he can only destroy. 
Let us then be glad with a certainty of faith that we are born to this age 
when the nations are coming together. This bloodshed and misery cannot 
go on for ever because, as human beings, we can never find our souls in 
turmoil and competition. There are signs that the miracle has happened. 
That ypu have asked 111c to come to you is one of them. 

For centuries you have had merchants and soldiers and pther undesir- 
able guests, but, till this moment, you never thought of asking a poet. Is 
not this a great fact, — not your recognition of my personality, but the 
homage you thus pay to the springtime of a new age? Do not, then, ask 
for a message from me. People use pigeons to carry messages ; and, in the 
war time, men valued their wings not to watch them soar, but because they 
helped to kill. Do not make use of a poet to carry messages ! 

Permit me, rather, to share your hope in the stirring of life over this 
land and I shall join in your rejoicing. I am not a philosopher : there- 
fore keep for me room in your heart, npt a seat on the public platform. I 
want to win your heart, now that I am close to you, with the faith that is 
in me of a great future fpr you, and for Asia when your country rises and 
gives expression to its own spirit ; a future in the joy of which we shall all 
share. 



200 


THIS VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


Amongst you my mind feels not the least appre^sion of any undue 
sense of 1 ace feeling, or difference of tradition. I am rather reminded of 
the day when India claimed you as brothers and sent you her love. That 
relationship is, I hope, still there, hidden in the heart of all of us, — the 
people of the East. The path to it may be overgrown with the grains of 
centuries, but we shall find traces of it still. ^ 

When you have succeeded in recalling all the things achieved in spite 
of insuperable difficulties, T hope that some great dreamer will spring from 
among you who will preach a message of love and, therewith overcoming 
all differences, bridge the chasm of passions which has been widening for 
ages. Age after age, in Asia great dreams have made the world sweet with 
the showers of their love. Asia is again waiting for such dreamers to come 
and carry on the work, not of fighting, not of profit-making, but of 
establishing bonds of spiritual relationship. 

The time is at hand when we shall once again be proud to belong to a 
continent producing the light that radiates through the storm-clouds of 
trouble and illuminates the path of life. 


II 

The Eastern Idea of the Infinite. 

By Ajitkumar Chakravarti. 

[We are indebted to Mr. C . F. Andrews for the pleasure of being able tu 
publish this article the MS of which he recently found amongst his papers, having 
been made over to him for revision by the author, the late Ajitkumar Chakravarti , 
one of the earliest and most devoted workers in Santiniketan Asram who 
helped on the development of the Visva-Bharati ideal . ] 

The picture of Time, as modern Science presents it to our gaze, does 
not uplift the soul. It is that of a boundless ocean on the side of the past, 
with a boundless ocean on the side of the future, and only a tiny island of 
consciousness given to us in the present whereon to take our stand, the 
foundations of which appear to be rocking between the past and the future 
even while we live and move and have our being upon its surface. 



July, 1024] 


VlSVA-BHAkAfl BULLETIN. 


201 


vSuch an infinity must be a nightmare to the brain that ponders long in 
thought about it. Our senses, our feelings, our thoughts vainly strive to 
comprehend it. One gain, and only one gain, it brings* It deepens the 
sense of mystery with regard to the universe in which we live. But that 
alone is not sufficient for our spiritual needs. The new age in which we 
live, is still groping for the deeper spiritual vision, which alone can unify 
the world. But as far as we can at present judge, modern Sc ; ence can 
never by itself reveal that vision to mankind. 

The higher thought of India was never greatly concerned with this 
outward infinity which relates to space and time. In that wonderful 
chapter in the Bhagavad Oita, where Srikrishna, in divine compassion, 
reveals to the bewildered gaze of Arjuna His Visvariipam, or Universe 
Body, the mortal man Arjuna, who is privileged to see such an immortal 
sight, becomes crushed by the awe-inspiring vision of the Deity’s myriad 
flaming eyes oi suns and moons and planets and galaxies of stars, of the 
endless wheels of universal forces whirling and circling in the Deity’s hands, 
of the numberless mouths of the Deity devouring countless worlds. At the 
terrific spectacle, Arjuna cries out at last in dismay, imploring Srikrishna 
to resume His incarnate human form; for the Visvarupam, the Univeise 
Body of the Lord, is more than mortal mind can bear. 

It is impossible for us, it we proceed by the path of modern Science 
alone, to reach any end, either of space or of time. Worlds unfold within 
worlds; systems within systems. There is ever a vast beyond, in comparison 
with which the immediate and momentarily present space and time 
are but as shadows in a flying dream. Who knows what undiscovered 
dimensions may not be all while existing, besides the three con- 
ventional ones that we already know? Who knows again what diverse 
aspects of space and time may not be apparent to other categories of 
thought, superior to our own, — aspects with novel colours, atmospheres and 
appearances that our senses have never perceived, our mind never imagined. 

In this august movement of creation, as it reveals its outward shape 
and form, what prospect is there, in very truth, be! ore mortal man but 
that of being swung helplessly up and down, in light and in darkness, in 
shadow and shine, in life and in death? Man is an infinitesimal speck in 
the vast inane, — a midget, whose span of life is but for an infinitesimal 
moment and then extinguished for ever, while the vast play of forces 
ceaselessly goes on. 



202 


THE VIS VA-BHARAT 1 QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


Rabindra Nath, our Poet, lias expressed the feeling of this external 
aspect of infinity in a poem, from which I venture to give a prose 
translation, however inadequate, of one section, that runs as follows: — 


This is thy play, 

Thou swingest us in thy swing to the rythm of a soundless melody. 

For a moment thou fittest us into fight, 

The next moment thou hurlest us back into the darkness. 

When the swing goes up we laugh for joy, 

But when if goes downward we cry out in fear. 

Thou takest thine own treasure 
From thy right hand to thy left, and from left to right again. 

Thou sittest in solitude, 

Gathering the suns and moons with thy swing eternally. 

Now thou uncoverest them and they are naked. 

Again thou veilest them as with a garment. 

Vainly we cry out loudly, 

Thinking that the treasures of our heart are wrenched away. 

But everything is whole and complete, 

There is nought that suffers loss; 

Only the swing itself perpetually comes and goes. 

Here is the modern poet’s vision ; and sometimes in books of the West 
we find this new putlook on the universe becoming made into a Welt- 
anschauung, the basis of a new world-faith. The evolution of the world 
is conceived of by these modern writers as the unfolding of a single life, 
of which we all partake, and into which our consciousness is able, at times 
of insight, to dive deep down. According to this world-view, we are one 
organic whole, which has passed through endless stages of unconsciousness 
until it reaches to the sub-conscious, and then from the sub-conscious to 
the self-conscious thought and self-conscious act in man. Indeed, it may 
pass on to still further stages of higher consciousness, as superior to this 
stage, where we are now, as our intellect is superior to the blind instinct 
of the amoeba. 

In metaphysical works, that were written in the Sankrit period of Indian 
literature, there are passages which distinctly point to a somewhat similar 
vision of man’s soul. According to the Sanskrit writers on psychology, 
for instance, our consciousness is made up of many layers or depths, the 
superficial layer of reason being the only one fully known to us. The 
lower layer of instinct we share with other sentient creatures : and there is 
a lower and deeper layer still, which we possess in common with unconscious 
inorganic things. 



July, 1Q24 ] 


VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN. 


203 


These sub-conscious and unconscious states are not within the field 
of our outward knowledge ; they do not come within our every-day practical 
experience. But there may take place, at times, a sudden "upRisl!” of 
the soul within us. Then, rcaspn itself becomes supra-rational and 
consciousness leaps forward, from its narrow limit of the self, to the 
universal. At such times, we feel not only the life of plants and animals, 
but even the unconscious existence of dust and stones, as if it were our 
own. We are one with the Universe. 

Such a state of mystical union is spoken of in the Vedanta ; and 1 find 
that although the modern writers, who thus seek in the West to explain 
matter in terms of spirit, have not gone to the farthest reach of the inner 
vision, they have much in common with this form of ancient Indian thought. 
Such welcome voices of our present age, which are being heard from within 
the very fortress of science, show clearly that both gross materialism and 
blank agnoisticism are vanishing quantities. 

These are not the final words that will be spoken by science in our own 
day. A new harmony is being wrought out of the discords of the past, and 
the gossamer fabric of a new idealism is being woven on the loom of the 
modern scientific mind. This expansion of the individual ' consciousness 
into the universal, is the keynote to the music of the infinite, which is sung 
throughout the Upanishad. It is a living faith, an inward spiritual experi- 
ence, not a mere outward intellectual apprehension in space and time. 
Therefore it never stands appalled at the vastness and multiplicity of the 
Universe, knowing that within the spirit the whole world rests as idea, 
just as in the kernel of the acorn lies the promise and potency of the 
giant oak. 

To a mind trained in the ancient modes of thought of India, an appre- 
hension of infinity which is conditioned by the measuring rod and the 
chronometer, lias no importance. To the imagination of India, the distinc- 
tion between the finite and the infinity, between time and eternity, is 
resolved in harmony and rhythm and conscious life. The infinite is 
grasped, not as an abstract philosophical idea, but as the one living reality 
among all finite forms and experiences. 

Western scholars have often compared the Advaitam of ancient Indian 
thought with the Absolutism in Western philosophy. They have regarded 
it as a negative idea derived from living experience But no Indian over 
thought of the advaita philosophy in that way. Rather the Advaita doc- 



204 


THE VJSVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 


trine, in its purest form, represents a living synthesis, in which the static 
and dynamic, the being and becoming, the unconscious and the conscious, 
the one and the many, have been knit together closely in an interplay of 
forces, which are never in discord one with another. 

Perhaps the Bhagavad-Gita is the book which best represents the 
synthesis underlying the whole Advaita doctrine in its application to human 
life. It traces this out along the different paths of jndna, knowledge ; 
karma, work ; and bhakti, devotion. It then shows in what manner, along 
each path, the goal of the Advaitam may be reached. The mukti, or free- 
dom of consciousness, that is thus attained, is not mere emptiness but 
connotes the full consciousness .of the universal. 

Furthermore, the conception of personality has never been confined in 
India to the limits of the individual self. Personality has rather been 
regarded as the coming forth of the individual into that which is universal. 
The environment of the individual, being part of the self, the wider it 
reaches out, the wider and larger it spiritually grow's. In this sense 
to lose the lower self is to find the higher self. Ultimately, when all selfish- 
ness has been eliminated, the consciousness of personality becomes 
universal. 

The researches of modern psychology appear in a remarkable degree 
to corroborate the view here outlined. The idea is coming more and more 
into the foreground of human thought, and Sir J. C. Bose's experiments 
appear to be giving fresh evidence in its favour, that personality in a greater 
or less degree continues to exist throughout all nature, that is to say, 
throughout what is called inanimate as well as what is known as animate. 
The human personality, therefore, being itself the complex of innumerable 
lesser personalities, must have two aspects wdthin itself, the one of sclf- 
isloation, the other of identification with others. Both these are true : and 
any system of ethics that gives undue prominence to the one apart from 
the other must be built up on a wrong foundation. 

Call it by whatever name we will, there is a form of consciousness, rare 
but nevertheless actually attained by men and women who are living today, 
in which we pass beyond the present bounds of time and space. There the 
One and the Many, the Finite and the Infinite, meet. All the universe is 
surcharged with infinite beauty and wisdom, infinite goodness and love. 
Through each avenue of the spirit pours in, or issues forth, the divine ful- 
ness. It is what Wordsworth calls, ‘that blessed mood* and the Upanishads 



July, 7924] 


VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN. 


205 


name Anandam. In this supra -normal state, the infinite, as the Vedanta 
says, 'breaks the cords 01 the heart* and sets the spirit free from its present 
outward limitations. 

The Upanisliads, the Bhagavaagita, Sankara’s writings, the medieval 
saints like Ivabir and Nanak, the modern sages and poets like Maharshi 
Debendranath and his son Rabindranath Tagore, are all of them filled with 
this ecstatic vision of the infinite. The very imagery in which 
the thought is clothed often coalesces and even coincides. I11 them, the 
infinite and the absolute are not consigned to an abstract perfection, that 
has no reference to the changes in life and time and place and form. 
Rather in the midst of all the changing manifoldness and transitory ap- 
pearance of the outward form, the one absolute is perceived and known. 

We are beginning to feel in India, with a thrill of delight and of ex- 
pectation, that the same stream of spiritual self-realisation, which was our 
life in the past, is coursing still through our present art and poetry. As we 
pursue its long history with the eyes of the mind, from the dim back-ground 
of the past right down to the present, the urgent claim reaches our ear from 
the West that the human world still needs this mighty conception of the 
Infinite, in which religion and science are united, in which our conscious- 
ness ranges onward, in ever-widening circles, till it embraces the very dust 
and stones. 

A purely materialistic inter or eta tion of the universe can nevei satisly 
the human heart, or ever fulfil the demands of the intellect. Mankind has 
already grown tired of its assumptions. A laiger, ampler and wider faith 
is needed for our age. Yet the material side of modern life has advanced, 
while the moral side has not yet been able to keep pace. The soul of man 
has sought in vain for its proper nourishment and food. Over all the doubt 
and perplexity, the haste and confusion, of the apparently triumphant West, 
the cry of the Prophet of Nazareth is heal d . 

What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his 
own soul? 



20 6 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

III 

Indo»Cham Art in Champa (Anam) . 

By Phanindranath Bose , M.A. 

Indian art and sculpture travelled pver the main-land of Further India 
along with Indian civilisation in the early centuries of the Christian Era. 
It gradually penetrated Siam, Cambodia, Champa (Anam), as well as into 
Java and other islands of the Indian archipelago. And in these travels 
Religion was its vehicle. With the acceptance of the cult £>f Siva or 
Vishnu, or the teachings of Lord Buddha, by the inhabitants of the Further 
East, the necessity of making images of Brahma, Vishnu, Siva as well as 
or Buddha and of Bodhisattvas arose, as well as pf erecting temples in order 
to enshrine these new gods and goddesses. 

The architects and sculptors must have had to serve as disciples under 
Indian Gurus, brought over perhaps from India, from whom they learned 
the canons of Indian iconography. In some cases they followed these in a 
graceful manner of their own ; in others they could not grasp their full 
significance, and the result was a lowering of the high standard of the 
Indian original. 

While Cambodia provides us with the best specimens of Indian art and 
sculpture in Further India, and Java has preserved for 11s the vast 
pyramidal temple of Borobudor, the artists of Champa were not inspired by 
the Indian ideal in the same way. They followed the Indian canons, and 
got the Indian form, — bereft, however, of the inspiration. The result was 
that they could not approach the best specimens of Indian sculpture of the 
Gupta Period. 

It is nevertheless interesting to consider the extent and nature of 
influence which Indian art exerted in Champa and what images, symbols 
and designs were favoured by the artists of Champa, which was under the 
domination of Indian culture for more than thousand years from the 3rd 
century to the 15th century A. D. 

It was possible for Indian art to exert so much influence 011 Cham art 
because of the colonisation and occupation of Champa by the Indian settlers. 
Indian colonists and merchants had been in touch with Champa from the 
1st century A. D. Ptolemy, who wrote about A. D. 150, mentions many 
geographical names in Further India of Sanskrit origin. The legends of 
Fou-Nan (which comprised Champa and Camboja) as transmitted by the 



July, 1924 J 


VISVA-BHARATl BULLETIN. 


ioj 

Chinese, tell us that a stranger named Houen Tien, who practiced the 
Brahmanic cult invaded the kingdom of Fou-Nan, married the queen and 
made himself the master of the place. M. Pelliol (Le Foil Nan 291) believes 
that this tradition is .only a reminiscence of the first colonisation of Champa 
by the Hindus in the first century A. D. 

This theory is supported by the earliest epigraphic document yet found, 
an inscription of a king of the family of Sii Mara, who was perhaps the 
founder of the Indian dynasty of Cbampa(i). Though this document is not 
dated, it bears a close resemblance to the celebrated inscription of Rudra- 
damana at Girnar and to the contemporary inscription of Satakarni 
Vasishthiputra at Ivanhcri. M. A. Bergaigne, on epigraphical grounds, 
places this earliest record in Sanskrit in Champa in the third century 
A. IX (2) It is precisely the time whicn Chinese historians ascribe to the 
foundation of a new kingdom at the southern extremity of their Empire. 

Thus it seems that from the beginning of the first century A. D., if 
not earlier, Indians were in touch with Champa and by the second century 
A. D. they had established their suzerainty over the Chains, the original 
inhabitants. 

Where did these Indian colonists come from ? M. A. Bergaigne holds 
that they hailed from southern Inc 1 2 'a and professed the Brahmanical faith. 
Indeed, we find in Champa, the image of Siva Nata Raja, which is found 
in large numbers in Southern India, and some other images which arc rare 
in Northern India. But the Mahayana form of Buddhism, which spread 
over Champa, flourished mostly in Northern India. It is rather probable 
that both the Northern and Southern parts of India had each supplied their 
quota of colonists to Champa. 

With the establishment of the Hindu colony in Champa, Hindu civili- 
sation and culture found easy acceptance in that land. The Chams 
evidently looked upon the culture of the Indians as superior, and came to 
adopt their manners and customs. The Indian kings of Champa also began 
to erect in the land of their adoption new temples dedicated to the images 
of their own gods and goddesses. The inscription of Vo Can (the first of 
its kind in Champa) is nothing but a grant for a temple. The inscription 
of Dharma Maharaja Sri Bhadravarman I refers to the temple dedicated by. 
the king to Siva. Thus Indian art and architecture received their initial 
impetus. Private individuals als.o made liberal grants for Indian images 

(1) cf. Le Royaume dc campa — M. Maspero in T'Oung Pao 1910. 

(2) cf\ A. Bergaigne : — Inscriptions Somscrites de campa ( 1889 ). 



208 THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

and temples. The result is that we have a great variety of Hindu and 
Buddhist images still preserved in the land of the Chams(3). In our study 
of Indian art and sculpture in Champa, however, we have to take into con- 
sideration not only these monuments but alsp such sidelights as may be 
found to be thrown on their religion. 

Champa welcomed both Hinduism and Buddhism from India, but mpre 
specially the former. The cults of Siva and Vishnu were clearly in great 
favour, for not only do we find numerous images of these deities but also 
of their consorts Parvati and Laksmi. Brahma, the creative personality of 
the Hindu trinity, however, was not so popular. Buddhism also prevailed 
in Champa but did not flourish to the same extent as in Java or China. It 
F generally asserted that Hinduism is not a proselytising religion like 
Buddhism. In this case, however, we find Hinduism overspreading this 
foieign land, making converts and turning it into a country of Hindu gods 
and goddesses. In India itself, Hinduism has also absorbed within its fold 
numerous outsiders^). 

The influence of Indian Art is further clearly perceptible in the decora- 
tive designs and motives used mainly in Cham architecture and sculpture. 
For instance the Padma (lptus), as in India, claimed the prominent attention 
of the artists of Champa, and as in the sculptures of Bharut, Sachi and 
Amaravati, it served as a highly decorative motive. It is the emblem of 
purity and chastity, so it finds a happy place in religious sculptures. 

Sometimes animals referred to in the Indian myths, such as Makara 
and Garuda, play their part in Cham .sculpture. As in India, Garuda is 
seen carrying Vishnu on his back (at Hurng-thanh) or fighting with serpents 
as at Van-turong. Garuda, though the king of birds, is not represented like 
an ordinary bird, but rather like a human being with wflngs. The Indian 
Makara also caught the fancy of the Cham artists. It is found in the 
frontons of Binh-Lam and at Khupng-my. Sometimes from his mouth a 
human figure or a Nandin is seen escaping. M. H. Parmenfier thinks that 
the Makara played the same part in the field of decorative design in Champa 
as the Cham lion. The Naga with three, seven or nine heads is also used 
as a decorative element, but its importance in the Cham designs is only 
seepndary. 

(3) M. E. Finot has done good service in the cause of Indo-Chamart by making 
a list of Champa monuments under the title of Inventaire Sommaire des monu- 
ments chams de Pannam B. E. F. E. — O. Tome I P. 27. 

(4) Prof. D. R. Bhandarkar, in his paper on “Foreign Element in Hindu Society” 
has ably dealt with this point. ( Vide Indian Antiquary, 1911). 




July , 1Q24 ] 


VISVA-BRARATI BULLETIN. 


209 


Brahmanic Sculptures : The Brahmanic sculptures in Champa include 
the images of Brahma, Vislmu, Siva, Uma, Lakshmi, Gancsa, Garuda and 
Nandin. 

Brahm&, the first personage of the Hindu trinity, is not a conspicuous 
figure among the Brahmanic monuments of Champa, where, as in India, 
his temples or images are not numerous. In the Matsya Purina, Brahma 
is described as having fpur faces. Sometimes he Is seated on a hamsa and 
sometimes on a lotus. In Champa, too, Brahma’s characteristic is that he 
is chaiur-mukha . Pie is seen in the bas-relief of Tourane and also at My- 
son(5). Sometimes he is represented along with the other deities of the 
Hindu trinity. 

The most popular of the gods of the Hindu trinity in Champa was Siva 
who seems to have caught the imagination of the Chains. The images 
and temples of Siva are often referred to in the Champa inscriptions, 
wherein homage is paid to Siva, the Mahadeva, with numerous epithets 
such as Sarva, Bhava, Pashupati, Ish&na, Bhima, Rudra, and Mahesvara. 

Siva was regarded as the guardian deity of Champapura, as the capital 
of Champa was called. The earliest local inscription in wdiich we get a 
reference to vSiva worship, belongs to the fourth century A. D. The 
imperial Guptas w^ere then ruling over Northern India. It was also the 
time, which witnessed the revival of Hinduism in India. It is not impro- 
bable that the wave of this Neo-Hinduism in the mother-country reached 
the colony of Champa and strengthened the hands of the Hindu colonists. 

The sculptors of Champa made the images pf Siva in various postures. 
They, however, seemed to prefer to represent and worship Siva in the form 
of a lingam (phallus). A tower in Pho-hai still contains a lingam in situ 
in the centre of the sanctuary. In India, at the present day, most of the 
Siva temples contain nothing but the lingam . The worship of the lingam 
was perhaps prevalent in Rigvedic times(6). Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar, though 
he found no trace of this worship in the earlier literature, does not deny the 
possibility of its existence at that early period^). Whether or not we 
agree with Hopkins as to the Greek influence behind lingam worship, no 
one will deny that the worship of Siva and his emblem, the lingam, was 
of Non- Ary an origin. 


(5) M. Finot — La Religion des Chams d'apres les monuments. (B. E. F. E. — O. I.) 

(6) Hopkins : — Religions in India P. iso, 

(7) R. G. Bhandarkar Vaisnavism, Saivism , and minor religious systems P. X04. 


210 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Stavana, 133* 


Besides the more usual form of lingam in Champa we come across 
another type known as Mukha-linga , that is to say, a phallus with a face. 
M. Aymonier, the pioneer in the field of Indo-Sinology, discovered one 
such mukha-linga in the tower of Po Klong Garai. He thus describes it : 

“In the interior of the tower the idol is a linga. On this linga is 

sculptured in half-hunch a fine head of a male divinity of natural grandeur 
bearing fine moustaches. This is certainly Siva” (8). 

M. Finot, the Director of the French School in the Far East, remarks, 
however, that it is more exact to say that it is the founder king of the 
temple identified with the God Siva. The Cham sculptor, here, made a 
departure from the accepted lines and brought in his own ideas about dress, 
— the physiognomy, head-dress and ornaments of the mukhaAinga being 
exactly those which the Champa sculptors invariably give to Champa 
kings (9). 

Many mukha-lingas have been discovered in India. General Cunning- 
ham found one at Sahri-bahlol(io). Among the finds pf the Varendra 
Research Society of Rajshahi, there is a Siva lingam with one face 
in black chlorite stone(n). The earliest instance of mukha-linga in India 
goes back to the first century B.C.(i2). The idea here also was to identify 
a human being with the Deity whose image he dedicated. 

This shows that the Indian colonial art drew its inspiration from the 
mother-country, but when the mukha-linga was identified 'with some local 
chief, the dress and ornaments were not imitated from Indian sculpture, 
buut were a representation of those in actual use in Champa. The colonial 
artists having thus apparently reserved freedom in matters of detail. 

Siva is also seen in Champa in his other usual Indian forms. M. Finot 
speaks of two bas-reliefs of Tourane, which represent Siva on Nandin, his 
bull, bearing a lance in the attitude of attack. This form is not special to 
Champa. The canons laid down by Hemadri correspond tp this attitude of 
Siva. He describes Siva as riding a bull, but having five faces. 

In front of the temple of Po-klong Garai, Siva is represented in a 
standing posture with six arms. His two upper arms are clasped behind 

(8) J. A. 1888 pp. 67-68. 

(9) B. E. F. E. O. Vol. I p. 14. 

(10) A. S. R. Vol. V p. 45. 

(11) Its photo (bearing No. 82) is given in their catalogue. 

(12) In the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey (1909-10) Mr. R. D. 
Banerjee describes a mukha-linga (height 4^4*) which came from Bhita in the 
Allahabad District. 



July , 1924] 


VISVA-BHARATl BULLETIN. 


211 


the head, and the others bear a trisula t a lotus, a sword and a bowl respec- 
tively — the usual emblems of Siva. Li India, Images pf Siva are found with 
aims ranging from two to ten. 

Natar&ja, the well-known dancing figure of Siva, which is so cons- 
picuous in Southern India, is one of the forms which nas found its way into 
Champa. Siva is represented as dancing the Idndava in the bas-relief at 
Tourane. The dance of Siva in the form of Natardja symbolises 'the 
action of cosmic energy in creating, preserving and destroying the visible 
uni versed (13) This Nataraj form of Siva though more popular in the 
South, is not actually lacking in other pans of India. An image of 
Nataraja Siva was found in tiie District of Dacca. 

Another bas-relief at Tourane shows Siva seated with a rpsary of beads 
in one hand and a trisula in the other. In the collection of the Bangiya 
Sahitya Parisbad (Calcutta), there is a fragment of a seated image of image 
of Siva in hard black stone, the upper part of which is wanting. Siva is 
also seen in Champa as the Dvarapala of temples. The best specimen is 
from Dong-Durong. 

What wc thus know from the Cham monuments may be supplemented 
by the evidence of Champa inscriptions. We find no mention of Siva or 
Siva worship in the inscription of the descendant of Srimara, which is the 
earliest epigraphic record in Champa. We, however, know from the time 
of Bhadravarman I, that is during the fifth century Saka, Siva was wor- 
shipped under the name of Bhadresvara. Perhaps human sacrifices were 
offered to Siva at that time because in one inscription of the same king we 
read — Sivadasa badhyate( 14). 

In 709 Saka, the Javanese attacked Champa and burnt down the temple 
of Siva, known as Bhadrddhipatisvara. The original fpunder of this Siva 
temple was perhaps Bhadradhipati or Bhadra-varman. Champa was not, 
however, wanting in devotees of Siva, who rebuilt the burnt temple. It 
was Indravarman who re-erected this temple of Siva and re-named the 
image lndra*Bhadresvara, after his pwn name. In inscription No. XXIII 
wc read (17) of two other foundations of Indravarman I in honour of Siva, 
bearing the names of Indrabhogesvara and Indraparamesvara. 


(13) H. Sastri — South Indian Images of gods and goddesses p. 79. 

(14) Cf. A Bergaigne — Inscriptions du Campa. All the numbers here given refer 
to those given in this work. 



212 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Sravana, 1331 

-/y 

1 

The predecesspr of Indravarman I, Satyavarman had given his name to 
an image of Siva, viz — Satya-mukhalinga-deva. This Mukha-linga was 
afterwards the object of the liberality of Vikrantavarman, to which reference 
is made in the different inscriptions of the stele of Po-Nagar (No. XXVI). 
According tp inscription No. XXIV, Vikrantavarman also erected other 
images of Siva by the name of Vikrdnta-Rudresvara and Vikrdnta-devddhi- 
Bhadresvara(is). 

Siva’s sakti is worshipped in Champa under the name of Umd . Umd 
is one of the numerous names of Siva’s consort. She is also known as 
Gauri,, Parvati, Chandi and Kali. Though in India, we have a large 
number of saktas , the figure of Umd is not very commpn, being usually 
found only with Mahesvara. There is a good collection of Umd-Mahesvara 
images in the Indian Museum and in the Museums of the Bangiya Sahitya 
Parishad and of the Varcndra Research Society. According to the canonical 
books, the general form of Uma, or Gauri, or P&rvati, when represented 
separately, has four hands. She wears a Jatamukuta , her lower hands in 
the Varadd and Abhayd postures and upper hands holding red and blue 
lotuses. 

Uma Bhagavati was one of the most popular goddesses of Champa. 
To her is consecrated the great sanctuary of Po-Nagar at Nhatrang in 
Champa where her image still exists in situ. She maintains her popularity 
to this day and receives the same worship from the present Anamites, as 
she used to get from the former Chains. At Po-Nagar, we find the goddess 
in a sitting posture with legs crossed in Indian fashion and her hands placed 
on the knees. In her eight hands, she has a knife and cymbal, an arrow 
and an elephant-tusk, a disc and a folding object, a lance and an arc. The 
throne is supported by a lotus which may be called a Padmasana(i6). 
M. Aymonier is of opinion that this image pf Um k is not very old and he 
places it at A.D. 965(17). The goddess Uma is also represented as seated 
on Nandin. An image ofUmfi in this attitude was discovered in the village 
of Chien-dang in Champa, and is now preserved in the Museum pf I/Ecole 
Francaise at Hanoi. In bas-relief of My-son, she is seen standing, in the 
attitude of dance, with the different emblems the disc, arc, snare, etc., in 
her hands. 

(15) See I/ancien Royaume de Campa dans I/Indoehine d’apres les inscriptions. 
J. A. 1888 Jan. 

(16) See B. E. P. E. O. Tome Ip. 15 ; for a representation of the goddess see fig I. 

(17) Aymonier —Etude Sur les Inscriptions Tchames p. 27. 




July, 1Q24] 


VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN 


213 


Like Siva, Vishnu was also popular in Champa. M. Finot mentions a 
remarkable instance of the statue of Vishnu, possessing both an epigraphical 
and an iconographical interest. It was fust described by M. Aymonier in 
1891. It was popularly believed to bear a Khmer inscription, but it was 
afterwards found to be a Cham inscription, which was translated by M. 
Aymonier. It was discovered in the forest of the village of Binh-truoc and 
eventually removed to the pagoda oi Bru-son, where it is impossible to 
photograph the monument. Vishnu is seated on a stele, wears a mukuta 
and bracelets. He is. according to the Indian fashion, four-armed (ebatur- 
bhuja). In the upper two hands he holds a chakra and a sankhd, and gadd 
in the lower two arms. Only the padma is wanting. 

Another mutilated statue of Vishnu is found at Co-thanh. The figures 
of Vishnu on garuda are also represented on the bas-relief of My-son. 
General Cunningham discovered a colossal seated slatue of Vishnu at 
Garhwa, which is like the Champa image. It is six feet high and four feet 
broad and is made of coarse sandstone. From the inscription on the statue, 
we can fix its date at the tenth century A.D.(i8). Almost all the Bengal 
images of Vishnu, however, are in the standing posture. Varahamihira 
says that the image of Vishnu should be four-armed, as we find in the case 
of the Champa images. The right Hands should hold a club and be in the 
posture of s&nti and the left hands a conch and a disc. Our Champa 
monument complies with these directions. This Champa image of Vishnu, 
however, is not as graceful as some of its Indian prototypes^). 

Images of Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, are not rare in Champa. 

Though in India Ganesa is believed to be the destroyer of all evils, 
he is not much in evidence in Champa. 

Both Nandin, the steed of Siva and Garuda, the steed of Vishnu were 
adopted in Champa. 

Buddhist Sculptures : — It is surprising that while Hinduism made such 
headway, Buddhism, which penetrated so far into China and Japan, could 
not make much progress in Champa. This may be due to the fact that 
most of the kings of Champa were Hindus and that they were busy making 
endowments to Hindu gods and goddesses. 

The remains of Buddhist sculptures in Champa show that Buddhism 
prevailed side by side with Hinduism, though it could not rival the latter. 

(18) a 7 S R. Vol ni p 56. 

(19) See fig. 4 in B. E. F. E.— O. Tome I. 


214 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Sravana , 1331 


I-tsing, the great Chinese traveller observed: — “In that country the 
Buddhists belong generally to the Ary a Sammiti Nikdya It is thus clear 
that the Champu Buddhism belonged to the Mah&yana school. 

At present there are but few Buddhist temples in Champa. At Dong- 
Durong, a Buddhist temple with four doors was discovered, which may 
have been a local centre of Buddhism. It was here that the great statue 
of Buddhism was found. This represents Buddha in a sitting posture, 
hands on knees. He has a ushnisa on the head, which is unfortunately now 
separated from the trunk, and an urna in the centre. This image is now in 
the Museum of L'ecole Francaise d* extreme-Orient at Hanoi. In the forest 
near Dong-Durong three Buddhas were found. A head of Buddha was also 
discovered in the neighbourhood. 

A bronze statue of a Bodliisattva, seated in Indian fashion on a Ndga, 
found near Binh-dinh by Mgr. Van Cammelbeke, is also in the Hanoi 
Museum. Various seals or medallions, used by the Buddhist monks, have 
been discovered in different places, bearing the images of Buddhist deities 
or sacred symbols. 

All these instances of Hindu and Buddhist sculptures in Champa show 
clearly that the Champa artists received their inspiration from India. 
Though good imitators, they were not creative artists, so that their pro- 
ductions became inferior in quality and lacked expressiveness. 

This art of Champa, which is Indian in origin and design, but Cham in 
execution, may be termed Indo-Cham art. 



















THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY* 


Vol. H OCTOBER, 1924 No. 3 


CITY AND VILLAGE. 

By Rabindranath Tagore. 

Tiie standard of living in modern civilization has been raised 
far higher than the average level of our necessity. The strain, 
which such rise of standard makes us exert, increases in the 
beginning our physical and mental alertness. The claim upon 
our energy, again, accelerates its growth ; and this, in its turn, 
produces activity that expresses itself by the raising of life’s 
standard still higher. 

When this standard attains a degree a great deal above the 
normal, it encourages the passion of greed. The temptation of 
inordinately high living, normally confined to a negligibly small 
section of the community, becomes widespread. This ever- 
growing burden is sure to prove fatal to any civilization, that puts 
no restraint' on the emulation of self-indulgence. 

In the geography of our economic world, the ups and downs 
produced by the inequality of fortune are healthy only within a 
moderate range. In a country divided by the constant interrup- 
tion of steep mountains no great civilisation is possible, because 
therein the natural flow of communication becomes diflicult. 
Large fortunes and luxurious living, like the mountains, form 
high walls of segregation ; they produce worse divisions in society 
than any physical barriers. 

There are some who believe that in the eradication of the 
idea of property the solution is to be found, for then, and then 
only, will the communal spirit find its full freedom. But we 
must know that the urging which has given rise to property, is 



21 6 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 


something fundamental in human nature. If you have the 
power, you may tyrannically do violence to all that constitutes 
property; but you cannot change the constitution of mind itself. 

Property is a medium for the expression of our personality. 
If we look at the negative aspect of this personality, we see in it 
the limits which separate one person from another. And when, 
in some men, this sense of separateness takes on an intense 
emphasis, we call them selfish. But its positive aspect reveals 
the truth, that it is the only medium through which men can 
communicate with one another. Therefore, all through the 
course of human history, men have tried to cultivate the senti- 
ments that give our personality its greatest significance, thereby 
enabling it to bring us close together in bonds of sympathy. 

If we kill our individuality because it is apt to be selfish, 
then human communion itself loses its meaning. But if we 
allow it to remain and develop, then being creative by nature, it 
must fashion its own world. Most often and for most men, 
property is the only frame that can give a foundation for such 
creation of a personal world. It is not merely money, not merely 
furniture ; it does not represent merely acquisitiveness, but is an 
objective manifestation of our taste, our imagination, our cons- 
tructive faculties, our desire for self-sacrifice. 

Through this creative limitation which is our personality, 
we receive, we give, we express. Our highest social training is 
to make our property the richest expression of the best in us, of 
that which is universal, of our individuality whose greatest 
illumination is love. As individuals are the units that build the 
community, so property is the unit of wealth that makes for 
communal prosperity, when it is alive to its function. Our 
wisdom lies not in destroying separateness of units, but in main- 
taining the spirit of unity in its full strength. 

When life is simple, wealth does not become too exclusive, 
and individual property finds no great difficulty in acknowledging 
its communal responsibility, rather, it becomes its vehicle. In 
former days, in India, public opinion levied heavy taxes upon 
wealth and most of the public works of the country were 
voluntarily supported by the rich. The water-supply, medical 
help, education and amusement were naturally maintained bv 



October, 1924] CITY AND VILLAGE 21? 

men of property through a spontaneous adjustment of mutual 
obligation. This was made possible, because the limits set to 
the individual right of self-indulgence were narrow, and surplus 
wealth easily followed the channel of social responsibility. In 
such a society, property was the pillar that supported its civiliza- 
tion, and wealth gave opportunity to the fortunate for self- 
sacrifice. 

But with the rise of the standard of living, property changes 
its aspect. It shuts the gate ot hospitality, which is the best 
means of social intercommunication. It displays its wealth in 
an extravagance which is self-centred. It begets envy and irre- 
concikable class division. In short, property becomes anti-social. 
Because, with what is called material progress, property has 
become intensely individualistic, the method of gaining it has 
become a matter of science and not of social ethics. It breaks 
social bonds ; it drains the life sap of the community. Its 
unscrupulousness plays havoc all over the world, generating 
forces that can coax or coerce peoples to deeds of injustice and 
wholesale horror. 

The forest-fire feeds upon the living world, from which it 
springs, till it is completely exhausted along with the fuel . When 
a passion, like greed, breaks loose from the barrier of social 
control, it acts in like manner, feeding upon the life of society ; 
and the end is annihilation. It had ever been the object of the 
spiritual training of man to fight those passions that are anti-social 
and keep them chained. But lately some abnormal temptation 
has set them free and they are fiercely devouring all that is 
affording them shelter. 

There are always insects in our harvest field which, in spite 
of their robbery, leave a sufficient surplus for the tillers of the 
soil, and it does not pay to try to exterminate them. But when 
some pest, that has enormous powers of self-multiplication, 
attacks our food crop, it has to be dealt with as a calamity. In 
human society, in normal circumstances, there are a number of 
causes that make for wastage, yet it does not cost us too much to 
ignore them. But to-day the blight, that has fallen on our social 
life and its resources, is disastrous, because it is not restricted to 



2lS 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


limited regions. It is an epidemic of voracity that has infected 
the total area of civilization. 

We all now-a-days claim our right of freedom to be extra- 
vagant in our enjoyment, to the extent that we can afford it. Not 
to be able to waste as much upon individual gratification, as my 
rich neighbour does, merely proves a poverty of which I am 
ashamed, and against which my womenfolk and my parasites are 
permitted to cherish their grievance. Ours has become a society 
in which, through its tyrannical standard of respectability, all the 
members are goading one another to spoil themselves to the utter- 
most limit. 

There is a continual screwing up of the ideal of convenience 
and comfort, the results of which, however, inevitably fall short 
of the energy spent, by reason of the wastage involved. The 
very shriek of advertisement itself, which must constantly ac- 
company the progress of production, means the squandering of 
an immense quantity of material and life force, and merely helps 
to swell the sweepings of time. 

Civilisation to-day has turned into a vast catering establish- 
ment. It maintains constant feasts for a whole population of 
gluttons. The intemperance, which could safely have been 
tolerated in a few, has spread its contagion to the multitude. The 
universal greed, produced as a consequence, is the cause of the 
meanness, cruelty and lies, in politics and commerce, that vitiate 
the whole human atmosphere. A civilisation with such an un- 
natural appetite must depend for its existence upon numberless 
victims, and these are being sought in those parts of the world 
where human flesh is cheap. In Asia and Africa a bartering goes 
on, whereby the future hope and happiness of entire peoples are 
sold for the sake of providing fastidious fashion with an endless 
train of respectable rubbish. 

The consequence of such material and moral drain is more 
evident when one studies the conditions manifested in the fatness 
of the cities and the physical and mental amemia of the villages, 
almost everywhere in the world. For cities have become inevit- 
ably important. They represent energy and materials concentrat- 
ed for the satisfaction of that exaggerated appetite, which is the 
characteristic symptom of modern civilization. Such abnormal 



October, 1924] 


CITY AND VILLAGE 


219 


devouring process cannot be carried on, unless certain parts of the 
social body conspire and organize to feed upon the whole. This 
is suicidal ; but, before its progressive degeneracy ends in death, 
the disproportionate enlargement of the particular section looks 
formidably great, and conceals the starved pallor of the entire 
body, — the sacrifice of the great maintaining the small in its 
enormity, and creating for the time being an illusion of wealth. 

The living relationship, in a physical or social body, is the 
sympathetic mutuality of help among its members and organs, 
whereby a perfect balance of communication between them is 
maintained, so that the consciousness of unity is not obstructed. 
The resulting health and wealth ai'e of secondary importance, — 
the unity is ultimate in itself. The perfect rhythm of reciprocity 
which generates and maintains this unity is disturbed whenever 
some ambition of power establishes its dominance in life’s 
republic. 

What in the West is called democracy can never be true in a 
society where greed grows, uncontrolled, encouraged, even admir- 
ed by the populace. In such an atmosphere, a constant struggle 
goes on among individuals to capture public organizations for the 
satisfaction of their own personal ambition, and democracy 
becomes like an elephant whose one purpose in life is to give joy 
rides to the clever and the rich. 

In this kind of Body politic, the organs of information and 
expression, through which opinions are manufactured, together 
with the machinery of administration, are all openly or secretly 
manipulated by those prosperous few, who have been compared 
of old to the camel, which can never pass through a needle’s eye, 
— the gate that leads to the kingdom of ideals. Such a society 
necessarily becomes inhospitable and suspicious, and callously 
cruel against those who preach their faith in spiritual freedom. 
In such a society, people are intoxicated through the constant 
stimulation of what they call progress, a progress which they are 
willing to buy at the cost of civilization itself, like the man for 
whom wine has more attraction than food. 

Villages are like women. In their keeping is the cradle of 
the race. They are nearer to nature than towns ; and are there- 
fore in closer touch with the fountain of life. They have the 



220 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


atmosphere which possesses a natural power of healing. It is the 
function of the village, like that of woman, to provide people with 
their elemental needs, with food and joy, with the simple poetry 
of life, and with those ceremonies of beauty which the village 
spontaneously produces and in which she finds delight. But when 
constant strain is put upon her through the extortionate claim of 
ambition ; when her resources are exploited through the excessive 
stimulus of temptation, then she becomes poor in life, her mind 
becomes dull and uncreative ; and from her time-honoured position 
of the wedded partner of the city, she is degraded to that of maid- 
servant. While, in its turn, the city, in its intense egotism and 
pride, remains unconscious of the devastation it constantly 
works upon the very source of its life and health and joy. 

Those who are familiar with the Hindu Pantheon know that 
in our mythology there is a demi-god named Kuvera, similar in 
character to Mammon. He represents the multiplication of 
money whose motive force is greed. His figure is ugly and gross 
with its protuberant belly, comic in its vulgarity of self -exaggera- 
tion. He is the genius of property that knows no moral 
responsibility. But the goddess, Lakshmi, who is the Deity of 
Prosperity, is beautiful. For prosperity is for all. It dwells 
in that properly which, though belonging to the individual, 
generously owns its obligation to the community. Lakshmi is 
seated on a lotus, the lotus which is the symbol of the universal 
heart. It signifies that she presides over that wealth which means 
happiness for all men, which is hospitable. 

By some ill-luck, Lakshmi has been deprived of her lotus 
throne in the present age, and Kuvera is worshipped in her place. 
Modern cities represent his protuberant stomach, and ugliness 
reigns unashamed. About one thing we have to be reminded, 
that there is no cause for rejoicing in the fact that this ugliness 
has an enormous power of growth and that it is prolific of its 
progeny. Its growth is not true progress ; it is a disease which 
keeps the body swelling while it is being killed. 

The sunshine that is diffuse maintains life in a whole forest 
of trees ; and the sunshine of wealth is symbolised in Lakshmi. 
The sunshine, when it is focussed through a buring glass on a 
narrow spot, can reduce the same forest of trees to ashes ; this 



October, 1924] 


CITY AND VILLAGE 


221 


hungry fire of concentrated wealth is symbolised in Kuvera, and 
he is the presiding deity of our modern cities. 

Modern cities are continually growing bigger only because 
no central spirit of Unity exercises vital control over their growth 
of dimension. There can be no end to their addition of hugeness, 
because their object is not to modulate human relationships into 
some beauty of truth, but to gain convenience. 

When in the Sanskrit poem, M eghaduta , we follow the path 
of the cloud messenger and in imagination pass over *he old-world 
towns mentioned in it, with their beautiful names, we feel that the 
poet in reciting them was giving voice to his hungering delight of 
some remembrance ; we instinctively know that these towns ex- 
pressed more than anything else the love and hope of man, 
treasuring some of the splendour of his soul in their houses and 
temples with their auspicious decoration daily accomplished b}' 
women , and even in the picturesque bartering that went on in 
their market places. 

We can imagine what Delhi and Agra must have been in the 
time to which they belonged. They manifested in their develop- 
ment some creatively human asoect of a great empire. Whatever 
might have been its character, these cities even in their decay 
still retain in their magnificence the true product of the self- 
lespect of man. But modern cities merely give opportunities, 
not ideals. 

Cities there must be in man’s civilisation, just as in higher 
organisms there must be organised centres of life, such as the 
brain, heart, or stomach. These never overwhelm the living- 
wholeness of the body ; on the contrary, by a perfect federation of 
their functions, they maintain its richness. But a tumour round 
which the blood is congested, is the enemy of the whole body 
upon which it feeds as it swells. Our modern cities, in the same 
way feed upon the whole social organism that runs through the 
villages; they continually drain away the life stuff of the com- 
munity, and slough off a huge amount of dead matter, while 
assuming a lurid counterfeit of prosperity. 

Thus, unlike a living heart, these cities imprison and kill the 
blood and create poison centres filled with the accumulation of 
death. When a very large body of men comes together for the 



222 


THE VIS V A-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


sake of some material purpose, then it is as a congestion and not 
a congregation. When men are close together and yet develop 
no intimate bond of human relationship, there ensues moral 
putrefaction. Wherever in the world, this modern civilization is 
spreading its dominion, the life principle of society, which is the 
principle of personal relationship, is injured at the root. 

All this is the result of an almost complete substitution of 
true civilization by what the West calls Progress. I am never 
against progress, but when, for its sake, civilization is ready to 
sell its soul, then I choose to remain primitive in my material 
possessions, hoping to achieve my civilization in the realm of 
the spirit. 

People, as a whole, do and must live in the village, for it is 
their natural habitation. But the professions depend upon their 
special appliances and environment, and therefore barricade 
themselves with particular purposes, shutting out the greater part 
of universal nature, which is the cradle of life. The citv, in all 
civilizations, represents this professionalism, — some concentrated 
purpose of the people. That is to say, people have their home 
in the village and their offices in the city. 

We all know that the office is for serving and enriching the 
home, and not for banishing it into insignificance. But we also 
know that when, goaded by greed, the gambling spirit gets hold 
cf a man, he is willing to rob his home of all its life and joy and 
to pour them into the hungry jaws of the office. For a time such 
a man may prosper, but his prosperity is gained at the cost of 
happiness. His wife may shine in a blaze of jewelry, rousing 
envy along the path of her economic triumph, but her spirit 
withers in secret, thirsting for love and the simple delights of life. 

Society encourages the professions only because they are of 
service to the peeople at large. They find their truth when they 
belong to the people. But the professions, because they get all 
power into their hands, begin to believe that people live to 
maintain them. Thus we often see that a lawyer thrives by 
taking advantage of the weaknesses of his clients, their helpless 
dread of loss, their dishonest love of gain. The proportion 
between the help rendered and its reward demanded, loses its 



October , 1924 ] 


CITY AND VILLAGE 


223 


legitimate limit, when it is not guided by any standard of social 
ethics. 

Such a moral perversion has come tr its extreme length to-day 
in the relationship of the city and the village. The city, which 
is the professional aspect of society, has gradually come to believe 
that the village is its legitimate field for exploitation, that the 
village must at the cost of its own life maintain the city in all its 
brilliance of luxuries and cxcerses; that its wealth must be 
magnified even though that should involve the bankruptcy of 
happiness. 

True happiness is not at ah expensive, because it depends 
upon that natural spring of beauty and life which is harmony of 
relationship. Ambition pursues its path of self-seeking by break- 
ing this !>ond of harmony, cutting gaps, creating dissensions. It 
feels no hesitation in trampling under foot the harvest field, which 
is for all, in order to snatch away in haste the object of its craving. 
To-day this ambition, wasteful and therefore disruptive of social 
life, the greatest enemy of civilization, has usurped the helm of 
society. 

In India we had our family system, large and complex, each 
family a miniature society in itself. I do not wish to discuss the 
question of its desirability. But its rapid decay in the present day 
clearly points out the nature and process of the principle of 
destruction which is at work in modern civilization. When life 
was simple and its needs normal, when selfish passions were under 
control, such a domestic system was perfectly natural and fully 
productive of happiness. The family resources were sufficient 
for all and the claims on them were never excessive on the part 
of one or more of its individual members. But such a group can 
never survive, if the personal ambition of a single member begins 
separately to clamour for a great deal more than is necessary fol- 
ium. When emulation in augmenting private possession, and the 
enjoyment of exclusive advantage runs ahead of the common good 
and general happiness, the bond of harmony, which is the bond 
of sustenance, must give way and brothers must separate, nay, 
even become enemies. 

The passion that rages in the heart of modern civilization is, 
like a volcanic flame, constantly struggling to throw up eruptions 



224 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 

of individual bloatedness. The stream of production, which 
thereupon gushes forth, may give one the impression of a huge, 
if indefinite, gain. But such interruption needs must disturb 
man’s creative mind. We forget that it is only the spirit of crea- 
tion evolving out of its own inner abundance, that adds to our true 
wealth ; and that the spirit of production but consumes our 
resources in the process of building and filling its storehouses. 
Therefore our needs which stimulate production must observe the 
limits of the normal. If we go on poking them into a bigger and 
bigger flame, the conflagration will no doubt dazzle our sight, but 
its splendour will leave on its debit side a black heap of charred 
remains. 

When our wants are moderate, the rations we claim do not 
exhaust the common store of nature and the pace of their restora- 
tion does not hopelessly fall behind that of our consumption of 
them. This moderation, moreover, leaves us leisure to cultivate 
happiness, the happiness which is the artist soul of the human 
world, creating beauty of form and rhythm of life. But man 
to-day forgets that the divinity in him is revealed by the halo of 
his happiness. 

The Germany of the period of Goethe was considered to be 
poor by the Germany of the period of Bismarck. Possibly the 
standard of civilization, illumined by the mind of Plato, or by the 
life of the Emperor Asoka, is xxnder-rated by the proud children 
of modern times who compare it with the present age of progress, 
an age dominated by millionaries, diplomats and war-lords. 
Many things that are of common use to-day were absolutely lack- 
ing in those days. But are those who lived then to be pitied by 
the young boys of our time, who have more of the printing press, 
but less of the mind ? 

I often imagine that the moon, being smaller in size than the 
earth, begat life on her soil earlier than was possible on that of her 
companion. Once, she too had her constant festival of colour, 
music, movement ; her storehouse was perpetually replenished 
with food for her children who were already there and who were 
to come. Then in course of time, some race was born to her, 
gifted with a furious energy of intelligence, which began greedily 
to devour its surroundings. It produced beings, who, because of 



October, 1924] 


CITY AND VILLAGE 


225 


the excess of their animal spirit coupled with intellect lacked 
the imagination to realize that the mere process of addition did 
not create fulfilment ; that acquisition oecavse of its bigness did 
not produce happiness ; that movement did not constitute progress 
merely because of its velocity ; that progress could have meaning 
only in relation to some ideal of completeness. Through 
machinery of tremendous power, they made such an addition to 
their natural capacity for gathering and holding, that their career 
of plunder outstripped nature’s power of recuperation. Their 
profit-makers created wants which were unnatural and dug big 
holes in the stored capital of nature, forcibly to extract provision 
for them. When they had reduced the limited store of material, 
they waged furious wars among their different sections for the 
special allotment of the lion’s share. In their scramble for the 
right of self-indulgence they laughed at moral law and took it 
to be a sign of racial superiority to be ruthless in the satisfaction 
of their desires. They exhausted the water, cut down the trees, 
reduced the surface of the planet into a desert riddled with pits. 
They made its interior a rifled pocket, emptied of its valuables. 
At last one day, like a fruit whose pulp has been completely eaten 
by insects which it sheltered, the moon became a lifeless shell, 
a universal grave for the voracious creatures who had consumed 
the world to which they were born. 

My imaginary selenites behaved exactly in the way that 
human beings are behaving on this earth, fast exhausting the 
stores of sustenance not because they must live their normal life, 
but because they strain their capacity to live to a pitch ot 
monstrous excess. , Mother Earth has enough for the healthy 
appetite of her children and something extra for rare cases of 
abnormality. But she has not nearly enough for the sudden 
growth of a whole world of spoilt and pampered children. 

Man has been digging holes into the very foundations, not 
only of his livelihood, but also of his life ; he is feeding upon his 
own body. The reckless wastage of humanity which ambition 
produces, is best seen in the villages, where the light of life is 
being dimmed, the joy of existence dulled, the natural threads of 
social communion snapped every day. It should be our mission 
to restore the full circulation of life’s blood into these maltreated 



226 THE V1SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 

limbs of society ; to bring to the villages health and knowledge ; 
wealth of space in which to live ; wealth of time in which to work 
and to rest and to enjoy ; respect which will give them dignity ; 
sympathy which will make them realize their kinship with the 
world of men, and not merely their survient position. 

— ^Str eams, lakes and oceans are there on this earth. They 
esdSrfTot for the hoarding of water exclusively within their own 
areas. They send up the vapour which forms into clouds and 
helps towards a wider distribution of water. Cities have their 
functions of maintaining wealth and knowledge in concentrated 
forms of opulence, but this also, should not be for their own sake ; 
they should be centres of irrigation ; they should gather in order 
to distribute; they should not magnify themselves, but should 
enrich the entire commonwealth. They should be like lamp- 
posts, and the light they support must transcend their own limits. 

Such a relationship of mutual benefit between the city and 
the village can remain strong only so long as the spirit of co- 
operation and self-sacrifice is a living ideal in society. When 
some universal temptation overcomes this ideal, when some selfish 
passion gains ascendency, then a gulf is formed and goes on 
widening between them ; then the mutual relationship of city and 
village becomes that of exploiter and victim. This is a form of 
perversity whereby the body-politic becomes its own enemy and 
whose termination is death. 

We have started in India, in connection with our Visva- 
bharati, work of village reconstruction, the mission of which is 
to retard this process of race suicide. If I try to give you the 
details of our work, they will look small. But we are not afraid 
of this appearance of smallness, for we have confidence in life. 
We know that if as a seed it represents the truth that is in us, it 
will overcome opposition on and conquer space and time. Accord- 
ing to us, the poverty problem is not the most important, the 
problem of unhappiness is the great problem. Wealth, which is 
the synonym for the production and collection of things, men 
can make use of ruthlessly. They can crush life out of the earth 
and flourish. But, happiness, which may not compete with 
wealth in its list of materials, is final, it is creative ; therefore it 
has its source of riches within itself. 



October, 1924] 


CITY AND VILLAGE 


227 


Our object is to try to flood the choked bed of village life with 
the stream of happiness . For this the scholars, the poets, the 
musicians, the artists, have to collaboiate, to offer their contribu- 
tions. Otherwise they must live like parasites, sucking life from 
the people and giving nothing back to them. Such exploitation 
gradually exhausts the soil of life, which needs constant replenish- 
ing, by the return to it of life, through the completion of the cycle 
of receiving and giving back. 

Most of us, who try to der 1 with the poverty problem, think 
of nothing but a greater intensive effort of production, forgetting 
that this only means a greater exhaustion of materials as well as 
of humanity. Tiiis only means giving exaggerated opportunity 
for profit to a few, at the cost of the many. It is food which 
nourishes, not money ; it is fulness of life which makes one 
happy, not fulness of purse. Multiplying materials intensifies 
the inequality between those who have and those who have not, 
and this deals a fatal wound to the social system, through which 
the whole body is eventually bled to death. 



228 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY tKartic, 13 , }/ 


THE VOICE. 

By Tsemou-Hsu. 

The Voice has been sounded; 

The thousand peaks stand 

in awe-stricken silence, 
Awaiting the Grand Echo, 

from their very heart, 
Which will shake with loud music 
All the spaces around them. 



W W. PEARSON. 

A Memoir. 

By C. F. Andrews. 

The difficulty of writing anything adequate about William 
Winstanley Pearson has so grown upon me, as I have tried to 
shape my thoughts, that again and again 1 have torn up what I 
have written in despair. When I first knew him, he had reached 
the prime of manhood, with all his own peculiar characteristics 
and his purpose in life already marked out. India had won his 
heart; whatever gifts he had were to be devoted to her service. 
His passionate devotion to India had always about it something 
of a lo\cr ; and when the news came that, in his last illness, while 
he was lying unconscious, he had murmured in his pain : “My 
one and only love, — India,” it was not difficult to understand the 
cry; for it was a life-long passion with him, and a devotion that 
was stronger than death . 

He had spoken to me more than once about marriage. Those 
who knew him and loved him best had impressed upon him the 
rare possibilities of a married life for a nature so gifted with 
affection as his. But though he thought long over the idea and 
came back to it in his own mind again and again, he seemed to 
shrink and hesitate. India was to him ‘a thing enskied’ and 
he worshipped at her feet. I do not know if his domestic life could 
have ever contained such another romance : and this first love for 
India of the passionate lover grew stronger, not weaker, as the 
end drew near. 

A story, which has just reached me from Japan, has moved 
me more: deeply than anything else I have heard about him since 
the time when the news came about his death ; for it brought his 
highly sensitive and deeply reserved nature vividly before me. 
One day, in a time of convalescence in Japan, after long bouts of 
sickness, the mail from India came into his hands, while he was 
speaking with an English friend. An inexpressible look lighted 
up the whole of his face, and he said to his friend, with a voice 
that trembled to the verge of tears, ‘Could you leave me now? I 
want to read these letters alone.’ This was during one of those 



230 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 133X 


times of physical weakness and absence from India when his own 
heart’s longings could not be fulfilled. 

Many years before that, a similar experience of the depth 
of this passionate, love was revealed in a flash to me, and it gave 
me the first clear insight into his character. He had come home 
from Calcutta, his health apparently shattered. But his bodily 
sufferings were as nothing compared with his spiritual pain of 
unrest. For the doctors had warned him, saying it was unlikely 
that lie would ever be well enough to return to India. Shortly 
after that time (in the summer of 1912) I was in England, and 
we had both of us met the poet, Rabindranath Tagore. For 
William Pearson, the poet was the embodiment of all that he 
loved in India itself. The longing to return, which had been 
never absent, had increased a thousand fold after this first meet- 
ing with the poet, and the liome-siclcness for India was evident in 
his eyes whenever he spoke of Bengal. 

Now it happened, that I knew of a tutorship vacant for the 
cold weather months in Delhi and felt certain that the doctors 
would not forbid him going out for this cold season. Therefore, 
instead of asking him to consider the pros and cons of it, a sudden 
resolution came to me ; and greatfy venturing, I booked his 
passage and came to him, holding the steamer ticket in my hand. 
My very first words to him were : “Here is your passage booked 
and you sail on October 1 5th ! ’ ’ When he realised what I had 
done, his eyes danced with excitement. In a moment he seemed 
to throw off, like a heavy weight, all the bodily pains, which had 
bent him down miserably before. His happiness, during the next 
two months and on board the ship and after he had landed, was 
infectious. He could not keep it to himself : it overflowed. From 
the moment that his face was set towards India, he rapidly 
recovered. 

His home in England, in a different sense, was always equally 
dear. But it was a different love, — a steady deep ever constant 
affection which had grown up with him from infancy. This love 
for his home was of the texture of his life itself. But the love 
tor India was always a thing apart, — unearthly, romantic, — 
finding its truth in the realm of imagination and receiving 
its corroboration in the hearts of his Indian friends. These 



October, 1924] 


W. W. PEARSON 


231 

all loved him with a single-hearted sincerety as they understood 
the unique devotion of this love for India that encompassed and 
encircled his heart. 

Among these Indian friends of his own age there was this 
striking feature, that each of then, appeared to occupy the whole 
of his heart and mind, and to be loved individually with 
a singular love, as if he were the only friend ; yet their number 
was by no means small, and each one had a character of his own 
It was r, rare gift indeed. After the news came about his death, 
those who had known him so intimately wrote to me saying, that 
the greatest influence for good which they had ever known had 
been taken away. - ‘My one and only friend is no more,” wrote 
one to me. 

In the later years oi his life when I knew him best, it was 
always with Indians that these new friendships arose which stirred 
his own nature to its very depths. In Japan, it had been his 
one regret, that he had found this intimacy of friendship infinitely 
hard to reach. Perhaps he scarcely realised how much his long- 
ing for love was being returned : for the response in Japan is 
different from that in India, — it is always more reserved. He 
never spoke to me of any Japanese friend in the same way that 
he spoke of those who loved him in Bengal. 

I think, but I am not quite certain, that there was one other 
distinctive feature in these Indian friendships. Though not 
exclusively such, yet they were far more easy for him to form 
with those who were Bengalis than with those of any other race. 
The Bengali temperament, which is so high in artistic qualities 
and in intellectual and imaginative force, had a commanding 
attraction for him. He had learnt the Bengali language and it 
was a pure delight for him to talk with those whose mother tongue 
it was. But the delight went far beyond this common tie of speech. 
Their music, their arts, their literature, their intellectual gifts 
all fascinated him and called forth his highest admiration. The 
charm of their domestic life, with its many endearing relation- 
ships, also gave him deep and permanent satisfaction. He was 
never tired of talking over with me the singular beauty of these 
relationships, which comprise every member of the household 
including the domestic servants. He said to me once : “What 

3 



2^2 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, i 23 i 

a wonderful civilisation must be behind all this ! And what a 
Fine Art domestic affection truly becomes in such households !” 

I must break off, at this point, to speak of his own taste for 
art and music and science. It is easy for me to recall the amused 
glee, with which he came back, after his voice had been tried 
by the kindly music teacher of the Asram, with whom he was a 
special favourite, and how he told the poet with much triumph 
in his voice that he had been given a ‘first class’ singing certificate. 
His laughter was due to the fact, that, though he had excellent 
taste both in music and in art, he had only the skill of an amateur ; 
he had never undergone the rigour of serious training. I think 
it just possible, that he could have become a realty good musician, 
if he had studied and practised from childhood : but his life was 
too many-sided. 

He took up science, not realty because his heart was in 
it, — though here again he did valuable work, and his study 
of the Evolutionary Theory, which gained him his B.Sc. Degree 
was highly praised. But Science was not with him a life-long 
enthusiasm filling all his thoughts. Indeed, he was so extra- 
ordinarily varied in his gifts, that it would have been hardly 
possible for him to carry any one of them out to its completion 
without neglecting others. Therefore, each of them used to win 
his almost undivided attention, in its turn, as the mood seized 
him. 

I can remember, at Delhi, the way in which he used 
literally to slave away at his Bengali, as though nothing in the 
world were of any importance except to translate correctly 
Rabindranath Tagore’s writings into English. Then, on a 
visit to France, he would suddenly discover that all depended on 
his learning French quickly. In a last letter from Switzerland, 
he told me with a boyish pleasure how he had talked for over three 
hours in French with M. Romain Rolland in Villeneuve. In 
Japan, his whole attention would be absorbed in Japanese master- 
pieces of drawing and painting ; and to discover an original by a 
great master in some second hand curio shop would give him end- 
less delight. He would speak of it for days afterwards and 
display his purchase to every one in the party explaining and 
xeceiving their congratulation. 



October, 1924] 


W. W. PEARSON 


233 


I have thought long over the question as to what was his 
greatest gift, amid all this bewildering variety of talents. It did 
not lie in anything he had learnt from books, or studied in academic 
circles, or practised as a profession. It was his genius for making 
and preserving friendships,— the infinite attraction of his whole 
personality for all who delighted *o know him, — that made 
Willie Pearson unique. The mention of his name brought a 
gleam of light to the eyes in every circle wherein he moved. In 
India, where racial feelings have grown strong of late, no one ever 
thought of him as a foreigner or an intruder. He was made a 
welcome member of every family where he stayed ; and it was 
always his greatest wish and happiness to dwell in Indian homes. 
In every possible way, he would conform to their manners and 
dress and customs ; and he would always do his utmost, with 
infinite care, to put those who were entertaining him entirely at 
then- ease. 

I am aware that I have been speaking all the while about his 
relationships with grown up people and with family circles, aud 
about the still wider hoiizon of his love for India itself. But even 
while I have been doing this, I have also been trying to pass on 
further to the one love which brought out all his gifts most 
perfectly, — his love of children. Here was his supreme happi- 
ness, if to be happy is to forget self entirely in others. A group 
of children, with him in their midst, became at once filled with 
extraordinary animation and excitement. 

His classes were like the buzzing of bees round a hive. Each 
boy was eagerly wishing to get in his answer first. In our open 
air life at Santiniketau, this noise in class was possible. For he 
took his boys under a tree where there was ample space all round 
and no other class was near that might be disturbed. But in a 
school room, the clamour caused by the intense excitement would 
have been deafening. More full of joy to the boys, even than his 
classes, were the rambles which he took with them for ‘nature 
study.’ One further form of teaching must be mentioned, — the 
acting of plays. He had a dramatic gift and a beautiful voice 
tor recitation. In the last term of his teaching at the Asram, 
he had taught the boys to act in a play ; and the pleasure that he 
gave to those young actors will not soon be forgotten. 



234 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


It will be noticed, that I have said nothing hitherto of the 
years, when he was working as a missionary in the London 
Missionary Society, at Bhowanipur, Calcutta. In those days I 
had not yet made his acquaintance, though I had often heard about 
him. The fact is, he spoke to me very little indeed about that 
period of his life ; and there can be no question that he had not 
then discovered his proper sphere. His own peculiar gifts could 
not find scope amid the routine work of an old established mission, 
whose conventional lines had been laid down long ago. He did 
not feel there that spirit of freedom, which was the very breath of 
his life. It. was clear, I think, to every one — as it became clear 
to himself — that his own work in India and for India could only 
be done, when he was entirely the master of his own time and his 
own method. It was here that the school of the Poet, Rabindra- 
nath Tagore, so exactly fulfilled this full ideal of freedom. It 
was a poet’s school, not a conventional educational institution. 
The poet’s genius was written all over it, and freedom was its 
watchword. 

Many have anxiously asked me to what extent this freedom, 
which he sought and found under Rabindranath Tagore, had 
meant any weakening of his hold on the essentials of his Christian 
Faith. As one who knew him very intimately indeed, during 
the later years of his life, I can say with confidence, that each 
step forward into this freedom, which the poet’s school gave him, 
was a help rather than a hindrance to his realisation of the 
Christian life ; and that each step was taken consciously by him 
with this object in view. It enabled him (if I may so express it) 
to live more fully and simply the Christian life than any other 
career could do. By all his many Indian friends, it was entirely 
understood in that sense ; and it always definitely implied to them 
that conscious Christian purpose. They looked upon him as an 
almost ideal Christian, and saw in his daily life just what they 
could imagine Christ Himself to be. 

I must pause here to explain a point that he talked over with 
me very many times. He had found it, he said, the most difficult 
thing in the world to be a' true Christian in India. It was not 
enough to live the conventional Anglo-Indian life ; for this was 
bound up with much that could not, in his opinion, truly represent 



October , 1924] 


W. W. PEARSON 


235 


Christ to others. He felt that the missionary societies had 
become almost inevitably involved in this conventional standard 
of Christian living and thinking. Therefore, as one whose 
single-hearted daily endeavour was to try to become more and 
more in India a true Christian, he found it necessary at last, after 
a very painful struggle, to set himself free from every external 
b<o:id, so that he might seek to realise the Christian ideal in his 
own way. He never judged those who took a different path ; but 
he fell that he had to follow out his own life purpose. 

It has to be realised , that he was not an ordinary person. He 
had genius of a very high order. If this genius of his had been 
simply that of a writer, he might perhaps have endured a certain 
amount of external bondage, so long as his own thoughts and ideas 
might travel freely. But his peculiar genius consisted in friend- 
ship ; that is to say, it was bound up with every smallest aspect of 
the daily life itself. To realise to the full this special kind of 
genius, freedom was absolutely necessary. When he obtained 
that freedom, in Rabindranath Tagore’s school, he was radiantly 
happy. Before that time, both in London and at Bliowanipur, 
he felt that he had not got the scope he required and he was 
unhappy. 

One thing more I wish to make plain. It was through the 
expression of his own genius for friendship in action that he found 
Christ, and learnt more and more the inner meaning of Christ. 
Perhaps the most fundamental of all his convictions, the bed-rock 
of faith on which his own character was built, was his belief, that, 
by humbly waiting upon God in prayer and silence and meditation, 
the answer would be given by the Divine Spirit’s inspiration and 
direction. This faith in him was very strong indeed. He would 
wait, as I know well, for the Divine Spirit’s guidance of his life, 
even in little things of daily moment ; and in the larger issues, 
which involved the whole future, he would not venture to take 
action, till, after days of patient waiting, he felt in his innermost 
heart a ‘concern’ (so he used to describe it to me, in the language 
of the Quakers) ; and he would explain to me, that he had learnt 
this habit of seeking direct guidance from his mother’s knee. 
For she had been brought up in the Society of Friends, and had 



236 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 

inherited this faith as a great tradition, which she had practised 
in her own life and taught to her own children. 

His own Christian belief was simple and child-like and 
direct. He was not, as far as I am aware, greatly troubled by 
intellectual doubts or metaphysical questions. His troubles were 
lather those which were concerned with conduct, — how to follow 
Christ truly. There was a New Testament Class, which he used 
to take right up to the end of those who, of their own accord, 
wished to learn the New Testament from him. In taking this 
class I noticed that he was wont to be somewhat uncritical in his 
exposition. He took the narrative just as he found it, and went 
straight to its inner meaning, not concerning himself about the 
criticism of the text. 

This temperament made him accept many of the stories of 
Hinduism in the same manner. He delighted in their inner 
beauty, and always tried to penetrate below the surface to their 
spiritual meaning. Of all the people, whom I have intimately 
known and loved, I think that he would come nearest of all the 
fulfilling in his daily life and thoughts the words of St. Paul, at 
the end of his great letter to those Philippian Christians, who 
were so near to St. Paul’s own heart : — 

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, 

Whatsoever things are honest, 

Whatsoever things are just, 

Whatsoever things are pure, 

Whatsoever things are lovely, 

Whatsoever things are of good report, 

If there lie any virtue, 

If there be any praise, 

Think of these things, 

And the God of Peace shall be with you. 

For with that generous and warm-hearted chivalry towards 
other creeds, which was a part of his very nature, and more than 
anything else perhaps the secret of his genius for friendship, he 
would always think the best of them and seek to penetrate below 
the surface to the good that lay beneath. In this way, I truly 
believe, he was performing a Christ-like work, and setting up a 



October, 192 //] 


W. W. PEARSON 


237 


standard, which will be a rallying point for many true Christ- 
lovers in the future, who have been pained and grieved by much 
that has been controversially said and done in Christ’s name in 
the East. 

His admiration for Buddhism, as he read its past history and 
saw its wonderful achievements in India and in other lands, 
became very deep' indeed. All *hat he loved, as being truly 
Christ-like, appeared to him to be found in varying degree in 
this pre-Christian movement, which had so deeply stirred man’s 
spirit. In Japan, where Buddhism is still a living creed, he paid 
great reverence to the gentle Buddhist priests, with whom he came 
in contact. They formed, perhaps, his nearest means of approach 
to an understanding of the inner heart of Japan. 

It was the same, in India, with Hinduism and Islam. He 
would always see the best of these religions and think the best 
of them, in accordance with the golden rule of Christ, who said : 
“Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so 
do unto them ; for this is the Law and the Prophets.” 

In his many journeys abroad with me to foreign lands, this 
attitude of appreciation was very marked ; and it was a great lesson 
to me in Christian charity. I have very often thought, when I 
watched his perfect courtesy to foreigners, who did not understand 
him and whose manner were sometimes repugnant to him, how 
greatly his Christian charity overcame any natural dislike. The 
words of the Apostle : “Charity beareth all things, believetlx all 
things, hopeth all things, enduretli all things ; charity never 
faileth,” were abundantly true with him. His charity never 
failed. His greatest difficulty was to endure the sight of some 
injustice or rudeness done by one of his own countrymen to those 
of another race. Then, sometimes, his indignation blazed forth. 

This brings me to a point, where I would on no account wish 
to be misunderstood : for the mistake, if made, would be 
fundamental. His was not at all one of those kindly, indulgent, 
easy-going characters, that loves to be a friend of all the world 
by simple kindliness and good nature. Willie Pearson had some- 
thing of a volcano in him, which he found difficult beyond words to 
control. At times, it would break out and get beyond him. He 
spent his whole, life in seeking to control it ; and the long hours 



,238 THE VIS VA-BH ARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 

i •“ 

which he used to give daily to silence and quiet and meditation 
had often this end in view. In the presence of God, he had found 
peace ; and wherever the irritation at some wrong became too great 
to bear, he would retire and compose himself before he came back 
into the outer world. I have seen him do this so many times, that 
I can understand the stern self-discipline that it needed. 

It was very rarely indeed that this indignation blazed forth 
against something that was inconsiderately mistaken by him for a 
wrong or an evil. If that ever occurred, he was the first to come 
forward and make amends : indeed he would run to do so. But 
the times that I remember most clearly were those, when some 
hypocrisy needed to be exposed, or when some cruelty to the. 
weak had occurred in his own presence. Then, I have seen his 
eyes flash ; and I have realised something of what it must have 
looked like, to watch Christ’s own indignation at the sight of 
cruelty or hypocrisy. I have known also then that what it truly 
meant, that Christ championed the outcast and the despised, and 
stood on their side, even when His own character was defamed, 
and how He was called the ‘friend of publicans and sinners.’ 
Willie Pearson tried to follow Christ there. 

In the formation and growth of such a character as this, it 
has been possible for me to appreciate the meaning and purpose 
of the long discipline of pain both in his early manhood and later 
years so bravely borne ; the long discipline of silence and medita- 
tion self-imposed, but equally necessary for the moulding of his 
nature. It has been made easier for me also to understand what 
was the divine purpose in the sudden accident on the railway, 
together with those long-drawn weary days of suffering at the 
last, so chivalrously endured with a smile, and his death just as 
he had reached the height of all his powers. If Christ, as we 
read in one of the New Testament epistles ‘was made perfect 
though suffering’, we may surely be thankful to God that this 
disciple, who sought to follow Christ so closely, was counted 
worthy to suffer for Christ’s name. He too, like his Master, was 
made perfect through suffering. 



THE EDICTS OF ASOKA. 

By Professor J. N. Samaddar. 

Mt\ H. G. Wells, when asked in an interview about the six 
Greatest Men in History, spoke of Asoka, among all the 
thousands of kings, experors, and majesties, gieat and little, as 
shining almost alone, a star. Ascka, indeed occupies a unique 
place in the gallery of greatest kings known to history. 

With reference to his immortal edicts the general idea is 
that they were meant only for the “long endurance’’ of the Good 
Law of Piety — the Dhamma. I will try to show, however, that 
not onlv from the point of view of religion but from other points 
of view, — political, social, and economic, — the edicts give us a 
fairly clear picture of ancient India in the “golden age’’ of the 
Imperial Mauryas. 

I shall first draw attention to some of these edicts from the 
social point of view. 

Duty to parents and superiors along with sanctity of animal 
life, was of course, one of the cardinal doctrines of the edicts, — 
we find it repeated in man}' of them. In the second Minor Rock 
Edict, Father and Mother were to be harkened to, an injunction 
which was repeated in the Third and Fourth Rock Edict “for 
that was an excellent thing,’’ as well as in the Eleventh and 
Thirteenth. Similiarly, duty to teachers was inculcated in Rock 
Edict II, as well as Edict IX, while it was also enjoined that 
fitting courtesy was to be shown to relations whose unseemly 
behaviour was increasing. 

Due reverence is to be paid to superiors, but this does not 
indicate that slaves and servants are not to be accorded proper 
treatment. Rock Edict IX inculcates this doctrine. Indeed, if 
I may be permitted to digress, 1 would assert that slavery, though 
of course in existence, was not regarded as very humiliating, the 
general condition of a slave not being a hard one. 

Chanakya lays down in the Arthasastra that “employing a 
slave to carry the dead or to sweep ; or giving a slave the leavings 
of food ; keeping a slave naked ; or hurting or abusing him ; or 
violating the chastity of a female slave shall cause the forfeiture 
of the value paid.” Slaves could enjoy private property and, 

4 



240 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 

what was more, anything which a slave earned, without prejudice 
to his master’s work, was the slave’s property. The slave’s 
property after his death was to go to his kinsmen, the master 
gettting it only in the event of the slave having no kinsmen. There 
were again special regulations for boy-slaves, less than eight years 
of age, who could not be mortgaged or sold in a foreign land, 
neither could such a slave be employed in mean avocations. A 
slaves could obtain liberty on paying the value for which he was 
enslaved and after that he could regain his Aryahood. 

Respect for living creatures, i.e., sanctity of animal life was 
naturally one of the cardinal doctrines of the great Buddhist King. 
We find in the Edicts the successive stages of his growing 
enthusiasm for his favourite doctrine, beginning from the stopping 
of slaughter in the royal kitchen, till, after twenty six years 
iPillar Edict), he laid down an elaborate code practically prohibit- 
ing the slaughter of animals. Evidently Asoka had this sanctity 
of animal life in view when he made healing arrangements for men 
as well as for lower animals (Girnar Rock Edict). Medicinal herbs, 
wheresoever lacking, were imported and cultivated ; on the 
loads, wells were dug, and trees planted ; for the use of both man 
and beast. 

Mr. Vincent Smith in this connection observes that “The 
sanctity attaching to the life of the most insignificant insect was 
not extended to the life of man” (Asoka, P. 58). This view is 
surely both narrow and unworthy. The explanation of the stress 
laid on the animal is obvious. No importance had been attached 
to animal life during the previous Hindu regime. On the 
contrary, as we find clearly mentioned in the Fourth Rock Edict, 
“For a long period past, even for many hundred years, have 
increased the sacrificial slaughter of living creatures, the killing 
of animate beings,” and it was therefore, only in the fitness of 
things that the great Buddhist King who wanted to inculcate 
ahimsd, should put a certain emphasis on the saving of animal 
life which had been neglected previously. But that does not imply 
in any way that such sanctity was not extended to the life of man 
— God’s highest and noblest creation. Rather, the sympathy of 
Asoka for his suffering fellow creatures, both man and animal, 
find adequate expression in the provision to which we have already 



October, 1924] 


THE EDICTS OF ASOKA 


241 


referred for the healing of man and beast not only throughout his 
vast empire, but even 'in the kingdoms of his friends (Rock Edict 
H) - 

Toleration, was the characteristic and basic ideal of the great 
Emperor. Liberality towards ascetics and Brahmins was 
inculcated in the Ninth Rock Edict- — a doctrine repeated in Edict 
XII which points out that “the sects oi other people all deserve 
reverence for one reason or another. By thus acting a man exalts 
his own sect, and at the same time does service to the sects of 
other people. B}^ acting contrariwise a man harts his own sect, 
and does disservice to the sects of other people. For he who does 
reverence to his own sect, while, disparaging the sects of others, 
wholly from attachment to his own, with intent to enhance its 
splendour, in reality by such conduct inflicts the severest injury 
on his own sect”. 

While lavishing his treasure chiefly on Buddhist shrines and 
monasteries, he did not hesitate to spend large sums in hewing 
out of hard rocks, spacious cave-dwellings, or Ajivikas, not even 
grudging the expense of polishing the interiors like so many 
mirross ; and there can be no doubt that liberal benefactions were 
bestowed likewise on the Jains and Brahmins. (Kashmir tradi- 
tion preserves the name of Brahmanical temples built of restored 
by Asoka). In his Rock Edict, Asoka expresses his desire that 
persons professing all shades of belief may live anywhere they 
like; for, says the King. “All of them aim at self-control and 
purity of mind.” 

The word Palikilesam occurs in the Dhauli Edict. Dliauli 
is a very important place in our Province, having been identified 
with Tosali, one of the provincial capitals of Asoka. This Edict 
inscribed in his 14th and 15th regnal year was addressed to the 
High Officers administering the town. Mr. V. A. Smith referr- 
ing to this word has translated it into “bodily torture” and come 
to the conclusion that, “it is clear that Asoka maintained the 
ferocious criminal code of the Arthasastra and his grandfather.” 

It is true that in the Arthasastra several chapters do deal with 
the Mauryan Law on the question of judicial torture, but we also 
note there that (a) Punishment is to be meted out only when the 
charge is quite established against the accused; and that ( b ) a 



242 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1 331 

number of people such as ignoramuses and Brahmanas shall never 
be subject to physical pain ; women also were generally excluded ; 
Mr. Smith himself i-efers to the fact that in the Arthasastra, when 
the Superintendent of Jails subjects any persons to unjust punish- 
ment he is to be fined ; and that causing death to anyone by torture 
was strictly prohibited. Further, the Edict says that “The ad- 
ministrators of the town should strive all the time that restraint 
or torment of citizens may not take place without due cause. ” 

If due regard had to be paid to the law, how could there be 
excessive torture ? There was the punishment of mutiliation no 
doubt, but there was also the alternative of fine. Only in one 
case have we found a reference to a man to be done to death 
viz., when a man murdered another in a quarrel. 

Mr. Smith characterises all the eighteen kinds of “torture,” 
as he calls it, referred by Chanakya, as appalling. Of these 
however, 9 were blows with a cane, — a punishment which is even 
now resorted to. And if we compare the kinds of punishment in 
vogue even in eighteenth century England, we cannot accent the 
suggestion of the author of Asoka who characterises the Maurya 
Law as specially “horrible”. And further when we consider in 
this connection, that there were a number of humane regulations 
even to prevent cruel treatment to animals, we can find even less 
justification for his further remark “that Asoka maintained the 
ferocious criminal code of his ancestors.” 

In the First Rock Edict there is a term Samaja which 
Dr. Thomas explains as “plainly a celebration of games or rather 
contests taking place in an arena, or amphitheatre, surrounded by 
platforms for spectators.” And, if we enquire what there may 
have been in them to offend the humanity of Asoka, we have only 
to call to mind the contests of animals described by the Greeks and 
implied in the Sanskrit literature. The life of revelry indulged 
in by the warrior-caste, already indicated by the rules on drinking, 
dicing and contests between animals, and shown by the law, is 
perhaps caricatured by the great carousal in the Harivamsa, but 
is testified to not only by Megasthenes, but by the description in 
the Epic of all the paraphernalia of pastimes at Court. The 
Samdja we may add, also involved a public feast where meat, one 
of the principal articles of food, was served. 



October, 1924] 


THE EDICTS OF ASOKA 


243 


Dr. Thomas refers further to the Dighanikaya where we 
have mention of fights between elephants, buffaloes etc. and 
concludes, “we can easily, therefore, see why attendance at such 
gatherings is in the Dighanikaya stigmatized as a sin.” Dr. 
Thomas, however, fails to notice one significant fact. The Edict 
says “Here no animal majr be slaughtered for sacrifice, nor shall 
any merry-makings be held. Kis sacred and Gracious Majesty 
sees therein much offence, altliongh certain merrymakings arc 
excellent in the sight of His Sacred and l Gracious Majesty the 
King/’ What was this other Samdja which a puritan king like 
Asoka thought excellent? 

In Brahmanical literature we find references to three descrip- 
tion of such Samdjas, the first reference is in the Hari-Vamsa 
where Kamsa invited his people to witness a wrestling match ; 
the second is in the Mahdhhdrata, where Drondeliarya, the teacher 
of the Kuru-Pandavas after finishing their education, wanted to 
give a public exhibition, and a Samdja was accordingly announced 
to the people. The third description is also in the Mahdhhdrata 
in connection with the Svayamvara of Draupadi where a Samdja 
was erected, abounding with actors, dancers etc. 

In Buddhist literature also, there were two kinds of Samdja 
— one in which meat and other prohibitive foods were taken, while 
in the other there were only innocent amusements. E.g. in the 
Vinaya certain Bhikshus are described as behaving like ordinary 
sensual laymen in a Samdja, while we have also an account of a 
Samdja, where the assembled Bhikshus bathed an dined, there 
being no partaking of prohibitive food or drink. 

Evidently the second kind of Samdja is referred to in the 
latter portion of the Edict as being appreciated by the King. 

I shall now come to matters touching political history as 
indications of the political atmosphere of those days. Let us take 
the Third Rock Edict which I consider to be the most important 
Edict from the point of view of political matters, where there are 
a number of terms which call for special attention viz. — Yukta, 
Rajuka, Pradesika, Anusamyana, Parisat and Ganana. 

Dr. Thomas was the first to recognise the meaning of Yukta 
as a subordinate official. Both Chanakya’s Arthasastra and the 
Manava Dharma Sastra confirm his explanation of the term. The 



244 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 


next is Rajuka, who as we see in the Fourth Pillar Edict had 
power ever many hundred thousands of people. Buhler’s notion 
of its relation to rajju, a measuring rope, was evidently mistaken. 
Mr. Vincent Smith has translated the term into Governor. He 
says that, ‘ ‘Considering the extent of these officer’s powers over 
hundreds of thousands of subjects, and the unfettered discretion 
allowed to them, the rendering “Governors” is preferable to 
“Commissioners”. It is likely that the post of Rajuka had long 
existed and that Asoka’s innovation consisted in granting them 
extensive powers obviating the necessity of their obtaining 
sanction for particular acts by references to the Crown . 

The next term Pradesika has been explained by Dr. Thomas 
as “an officer attached to the several grades of councillers and of 
local Governors, and charged with the executive duties of revenue 
collection and police, a combination so constant in India.” Mr. 
Vincent Smith (Asoka P. 162) accepts the explanation of Dr. 
Thomas and considers the officer “ to have been more or less 
equivalent to the District officer or Magistrate and Collector ot 
modern India.” 

I venture to differ from both these two high authorities. 
My first point is that the word Pradesika is derived from Pradesa 
which evidently implies a larger area, — a fact which Dr. Thomas 
himself admits. Secondly, if we refer to the Arthasastra, we 
find that the Pradesiris — officers whom Dr. Thomas has identified 
with these Pradesikas — were to hold in check the Superintendents 
and their subordinates. They were, of course, under the 
Collector-General, as is evident from the above, but that they 
wielded considerable power is evident, for we find here that three 
Pradestris shall deal with measures to suppress disturbance to 
peace. Again we find these officers doing the duties of a judge. 
Thus it appears that their position was equal to that of a Minister, 
or at least that of a modern Commissioner and we are thus led to 
say that taking the derivation of the word as well as of the powers, 
they could not have been merely “district officers” charged with 
the executive duties of revenue collection and police. 

The Girnar and the Kalinga Edicts contain the term 
Anusamyana. This is a difficult term and the difficulty has been 
intensified by the fact that up to time this word has not been 



October, 1924] 


THE EDICTS OF ASOKA 


245 


discovered in any place other than in the Edicts. At one time, 
the word was translated into “Assembly” and on another occasion 
as “Circuit.” A new explanation has been suggested by Mr. 
K. P. Jayaswal, who questions : “Would the whole body of the 
High Ministers, who as at Taxila and at Ujjain were charged 
with the Government of the Presidency or Viceroyalty “go out” 
cr “be turned out" together “fo: the purposes of going on an 
official tour” ? And he goes on to observe that “the results would 
be that the Capital could be without a single minister during the 
alleged “tour”. This interpretation is accepted by the late 
Dr. V. A. Smith who observes : “He is probably correct in 
teferriug to the Sukraniti and interpreting the term as signifying 
a regular system of transfer from one station or district to another, 
designed to prevent the abuses apt to arise wht a officials remain 
too long in a particular locality.” 

The term Gananayam is also important. It was the 
Accounts Department, referred to in the Arthtisastra, which gives 
us full details about it. One of its duties was to prevent the 
diminishing of revenue, — “excellent is small expense with small 
accountation”. As Kautilya says : “By how much the 
Superintendent of a department augments the net total of its 
xevenue either by increasing any one of the items of its receipts 
or bjr decreasing any one of the items of expenditure, he shall be 
rewarded eight times that amount. But when it is reversed ( i.e . 
when the net total is decreased) the award shall also be reversed 
(i.e. he shall be made to pay eight times the decrease)” the object 
in every case being economy. 

Mr. Jayaswal adds in this connection that the Ganana, i.e., 
the Department of State Accounts, was required to take notes of 
the order of the five-yearly transfers and implies that no allowance 
to the ministers after the fifth year was to be sanctioned by the 
Department, as that would be unlawful expenditure. 

The term Parisat in this Edict (it also occurs in R. E. Ill) 
is one which requires further examination. Senart took it as 
Samgha and Buller as the “Committee of the Caste.” The latest 
interpretation is Mantriparisat — an assembly of ministers. This 
term has been used in the Arthasastra. Kautilya observes “all 
kinds of administrative measures are preceded by deliberations 



246 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


in a well formed Council”. And again “in works of emergency, 
the King shall call both his ministers and the assembly of 
ministers.” Mr. Jayaswal referring to these considers that the 
Council of Ministers was very powerful, so much so, that the 
Emperor was thereby deprived of “authority”. But the 
question is, how far this Council of Ministers was effective and 
whether or not too much prominence has been given to the 
existence of the Mantri-parisat, with which has been compared 
the modern day Executive Councils ? 

Kautilya has observed regarding this important point, that 
the King is not to despise anybody’s opinion but hear 
the opinion of all, “for a wise man shall make use of even a 
child’s utterance,” and though he advised the formation of a well- 
formed Council in which all kinds of administrative measures 
are to be preceded by deliberations, the authority which Chanakya 
exercised over Chandragupta, as we find in the Mudraraksasa, 
hardly leaves any doubt of the necessity for a Council. 

The Arthasastra has laid special stress on spies and a spy 
system. Indeed the Institution of spies formed a special item in 
Chanaya’s Code of Law. In the sixth Rock Edit (Girnar) occurs 
the word Pativedaka which has been rendered into ushers by 
Mr. K. P. Jayaswal. I am inclined to think, with Mr. V. A. 
Smith, that the term refers to spies many of whom had free access 
to the King. 

A special injunction is laid down in the sixth Rock Edict 
that “A long period has elapsed during which in the past business 
was not carried on or information brought in at all times. So by 
me the arrangement has been made that at all times, when I am 
eating or in the ladies appartments, or in my private room or 
in the news, or in my conversance, or in the pleasure grounds, 
every where the persons appointed to give information should keep 
me informed about the affairs of the people ” The persons 
appointed to give information (and from the derivation of the word 
Pativedaka we get the same meaning) could not be anybody other 
than these spies. 

Ordinary ushers (whatever may be the duties of the gentle- 
man ushers of the English court) could not have done all this 
in the time of the Mauryas when the King, as we find in the 



October, 1924] 


THE EDICTS OE ASOKA 


247 


Greek accounts, was so much afraid of his life that, he could not 
sleep twice in one room, and when the spy system being so much 
m vogue could be and was so easily availed of. 

Further, the Edict goes on. “And in all places I attend the 
affairs of the people. And, if perchance, by word of mouth 
I personally command a donation or injunction, or again, when a 
matter of urgency has been committed, to the High Officers, and 
in that matter a division or adjournment takes place in the 
council, then without delay information must be given to me in 
all places, at all times/' It was only possible for the spies to 
carry such information to the king immediately, wherever he was. 

Coming to the Fifth Rock Edict, we find the word Mahdmdtra 
which is also referred to in R. E. XII and VII. Asoka observes, 
“Now in all the long time past, officers ki^own as Censors 
(Dharma-mahdmdtras) of the Law of Piety never had existed, 
whereas such Censors were created by me.” This implies that 
before Asoka’s time, there were officers whose duty was confined 
to the ordinary business of administration ; but Asoka introduced 
an innovation by creating officers whose duty was to look to the 
Law of Piety and with a similar object, he created women censors, 
whose functions had special reference to ladies. We are told by 
Edict V, that these were employed in the Capital and in all 
provincial towns, in the women’s apartments of the king’s brothers 
and sisters, as well as other relatives. 

There was a well-established department under these censors 
of the Law of Piety, who possessed the power of modifying the 
sentence of convicts while their other duties included jurisdiction 
in cases of injury inflicted on animals contrary to the regulations, 
exhibitions of gross filial disrespect and other breaches of the 
moral rules prescribed by authority. They were also instructed 
to redress cases of wrongful confinement or corporal punishment 
and were empowered to grant remission of sentence when the 
offender was entitled to consideration by reason of advanced 
years, sudden calamity or the burden of a large family. Very 
likely, they also shared with the censors of women the delicate 
duty of supervising feminine morals, the households of the royal 
family both at the capital and in the provincial towns being 
subject to their inspection. 

5 



248 


THE VJSVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 


From the Edicts, then, the hierarchy of officers in the 
establishment of Asoka may be roughly laid down as follows : 

First come, of course, the Viceroys who stood at the head 
of all officers. They were members of the royal family, with 
headquarters at Taxila, Tosali, Ujjain. There was also a fourth 
Viceroy very likely at Suvannagiri who ruled the southern 
provinces beyond the Nerbudda. 

The Mahamatras (ministers) come next with purely lay, 
functions but a new class of them was organised by Asoka who 
also supervised morals. 

Next to them, come the Rajukas, who, as we have found, 
were set over many hundred thousands of people and were granted 
independence in the award of honours and penalties in order that 
they could confidently and fearlessly perform their duties, bestow 
welfare and happiness upon the people in the country and confer 
favours upon them. It seems to me that these were the officers 
who administered the central regions of the Empire. 

The Yuktas who were the members of the subordinate civil 
service and the Upayuktas come next. These were all specially 
trained local officials (The Borderers’ Edict). The Eelchyakas 
(clerks) come in last. 

The Sixth Rock Edict is also important from the political 
standpoint. Here we find a close resemblance between what 
Asoka lays down, and what Chanakya the guru of the Mauryas 
lays down in his Arthasastra, so much so, that it seems clear that 
the great Buddhist Emperor followed the dictates of his great 
Brahman minister. 

Asoka is not at all content with what his officers did. 
Information is to be sent to him even when he was eating or when 
he was in the ladies apartment or wherever he was. The Artha- 
sastra clearly lays down the duties of the kind thus “when in 
court he shall never cause his petitioners to wait at the door, for 
when a king makes himself in accessible to his people and entrusts 
his work to his immediate officers, he is sure to engender confu- 
sion in business and to cause thereby public disaffection, and make 
himself a prey to his enemies. He shall, therefore, personally 
attend to the business of gods, of heretics, of Brahmans learned 
in the Vedas, of cattle, of sacred places, of minors, of the aged, the 



October, IQ24] 


THE EDICTS OF ASOKA 


249 


afflicted, and the helpless, and of women. All this in order (of 
enumeration) or according to + he urgency or pressure of those 
works. All urgent calls he shall hear at once, but never put off ; 
tor when postponed, they will prove too hard or impossible to 
accomplish. 

Of a king, continues the Arthasastra, the religious vow is 
his readiness to action ; satsifaciory discharge of duties in his 
performance of sacrifice ; equal attention to all in the offer of fees : 
and ablution toward consecration. In the happiness of his sub- 
jects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare; whatever 
pleases himself he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases 
his siibjects he shall consider as good. Hence the king shall 
ever be active and discharge his duties. 

I shall now turn to discuss some terms bearing on the 
economic condition of India in the age of Mauryas. 

The Superintendent of pastures is referred to in R. E. XIII. 
This officer was directly concerned with the sanctity of animal 
life and as such he figures along with the censors of the law of 
Piety and the censors of women. This of course as a natural 
conclusion. But, in addition to this, there seems to me some 
special reason for mentioning this officer and in this connection 
I would refer to Rock Edict VI, where Asoka wants to be 
informed of everything at all times. There we find the term 
Vachambi which has been translated into mews. That is one 
of the places which appear- to be frequently frequented by the 
Emperor himself. And why? 

Vachambi is Vraja (Arthasastra 11.6) which was a herd of 
cattle including cows, buffaloes, goats, sheep, asses, camels, 
horses and mules. Great attention was paid in those days to 
agriculture and the importance of livestock being then fully 
realised, special care was taken by Government in regard to their 
health and improvement- Cattle were classified, branded and 
registered. There was a special department for pastures and 
grazing grounds for the proper supply of fodder and there wei-e 
altogether elaborate arrangements for running the Department. 
It was therefore, no wonder that the king himself was bound to 
inspect the live stock, both from the religious as well as from 
the economic point of view. 



250 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


The next question arises in connection with our study or the 
celebrated Rummindei inscription on the pillar placed to com- 
memorate the birth place of Buddha. “Inasmuch as here the 
Holy one was born,” the village of Lummini was released from 
religious cesses land required to pay only one-eighthi as land 
revenue. Bali as explained by the Arthasastr is a special 
religious tax. The exemption from this was granted to the 
villagers, to mark the Emperor’s visit to this sacred place. So 
much, of course, is clear. 

There is, however, some difficulty about this one-eighth 
(athabhdga). Bhaga, according to the Arthasastra means a 
portion of produce payable to the Government, but what ordinarily 
was the King’s share? The Arthasastra treats of revenue from 
various sources : Produce from crown lands ( sita ), portion of 
produce payable to the Government (bhaga) religious taxes (bali), 
taxes paid in money ( kara ) by merchants and farmers of rivers, 
ferries, boats and ships, towns and pasture grounds, roadcess 
( vartain ) etc. No mention is made here as to the amount of tax 
payable, but in the same book we find the following : Fields that 
are left unsown, may be brought under cultivation by employing 
those who cultivate for half the share of the produce ; or those who 
live by their own physical exertion may cultivate such fields for 
one-fourth or one-fifth of the produce grown. In another place, 
it is stated that “in such parts of his countries as depend 
solely upon rain for water and are rich in grain, the king may 
demand of his subjects one-third or one-fourth of their grain 
according to their capacity.” And again : “They were to pay 
one-fourth of their grain.” 

Even this cursory analysis of the Edicts makes it clear that 
the prevalent notion as to the Edicts being merely of religious 
import, is an incorrect one, and that they do throw a flood of light 
not only on the ethical aspect, but also on the social, political and 
economical activities of the great Asoka, of whom it has been so 
aptly said : “If a man’s fame can be measured by the number 
of hearts who revere his memory, by the number of lips who have 
mentioned and still mention him with honour, Asoka is more 
famous than Charlemagne or Caesar” ( Koppen ). 



CHINA’S DEBT TC INDIA. 

By Prof. Liang Chi Chao. 

[ From a speech of welcome to Rabindranath Tagore ]. 

The meaningless idolatory of hero-worship is common 
amongst the peoples of Europe and America. We, Chinese, have 
not so far acquired this fashionable habit. We, who welcome 
Dr. Tagore may each have our several reasons, — it may even be 
that, like the Europeans and Americans, some of us are merely 
hero-worshipping him. Birt we must all recognise the one great 
idea, that he conies to us from the country which is our nearest 
and dearest brother, — India. 

To say that the country of India is our brother is not a mere 
matter of courtesy to our guest. The fact has its foundation in 
history. 

In ancient times China did not enjoy that facility of com- 
munication which was the privilege of the races bordering the 
Mediterranean Sea. On the other hand, we had the disadvantage 
of being shut up in one corner of eastern Asia without any means 
of communicating with other great races and cultures. The 
islands in the eastern and southern oceans were populated by 
savages. America, on the far side of the Pacific, gave no sign 
of civilisation. Beyond our western and northern frontiers there 
were those barbarous and ferocious races, whose business it ever 
was to threaten and devastate, but never to help us. 

It is well for us to remember that this little privilege of 
culture, which we posses to-day, has been handed down to us by 
our ancestors, who laboured long within secluded boundaries, un- 
aided and single-handed. It is also due to the seclusion of its 
environment that our culture gives the impression of being 
monotonous and conservative to an extraordinary degree. 

But across our south-western boundary, there was a great 
and cultured country, India. Both in character and geography, 
India and China are like twin brothers. Before most of the 
civilised races became active, we two brothers had already begun 



252 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 

to study the great problems which concern the whole of mankind. 
We had already accomplished much in the interests of humanity. 
India was ahead of us and we, the little brother, followed behind. 

But God had not been kind. He had placed between us a 
vast area of unfeeling desert and two great ranges of cruel snowy 
peaks, which separated us for thousands of years. It was not till 
two thousand years ago that we were given gradually to know 
that we had a very good elder brother on the earth. 

When did these two great countries begin to communicate 
with each other ? 

According to India history, King Asoka sent a number of 
missionaries to propagate Buddhist ideas. Probably some of 
them had travelled as far as China. Our own tradition says that 
in the time of the famous Emperor Chin Sze Hwang, (who built 
the Great Wall), there were already more than ten Hindus, who 
had been to Chang-on and who were imprisoned and killed by him 
(from the book Shib I Gee). Asoka and Chin Sze Hwang were 
contemporaries and therefore this might have been true. But we 
need not worry over half fairy tales. 

What we as historians are able to vouch is, that the first 
communication between us as brothers occurred in the first century 
of the era of Christ. From the tenth year of Han Yung Tsin to 
the fifth year of Tang Chen Yuan (67 — 789 A.D.), roughly 
eight-hundred years, the Hindu scholars, who came to China 
numbered twenty-four, to which may be added thirteen from 
Kashmir (which in Tang times was not recognised as part of India) 
thus making thirty-seven in all, not counting those who came 
from other countries on the eastern and western side of Chung 
Lin (Turkestan). Our scholars, who went to India to study, 
during the period from the western Tsin to the Tang dynasties 
(265 — 790 A.D.) numbered 187, the names of 105 of whom we 
can ascertain. Among the most famous from India were 
Tumullosa ( Kumdrajiva ) Chu Shien (Buddhabhadra) Chen Di 
(Jinabhadra) and from China, Ta Shien, Yuan Chuang and I 
Tsin. 

During a period of 700 to 800 years, we lived like affectionate 
brothers, loving and respecting one another. 



October, 1924] 


CHINA’S DEBT TO INDIA 


253 


And now we are told that, within recent years, we have at 
length come into contact with civilised ( !) races. Why have they 
come to us ? They have come coveting our land and our wealth ; 
they have offered us as presents cannon balls dyed in fresh blood ; 
their factories manufacture goods and machines which daily 
deprive our people cf their crafts. But we two brothers were not 
like that in the days gone by. W'' were both devoted to the cause 
of the universal truth, we set out to fulfil the destiny of mankind, 
we felt the necessity for eo-opetation. We Chinese specially felt 
the need for leadership and directiou trom our elder brothers the 
people of India. Neither of us were stained in the least by any 
motive of self-interest — of that we had none. 

During the period when we were most close and affectionate 
to one another, it is a pity that this little brother had no special 
gift to offer to its elder brother ; whilst our elder brother had given 
to us gifts of singular and precious worth, which we can never 
forget. 

Now what is it that we so received? 

1. India taught us to embrace the idea of absolute freedom, 
— that fundamental freedom of mind, which enables it to shake 
off all the fetters of past tradition and habit as well as the present 
customs of a particular age, — that spiritual freedom which casts 
off the enslaving forces of material existence. In short, it was not 
merely that negative aspect of freedom which consists in ridding 
ourselves of outward oppression and slavery, but that emancipa- 
tion of the individual from his own self, through which men attain 
great liberation, great ease and great fearlessness. 

2. India also taught us the idea of absolute love, that pure 
love towards all living beings which eliminates all obsessions of 
jealousy, anger, impatience, disgust and emulation which 
expresses itself in deep pity and sympathy for the foolish, the 
wicked and the sinful, — that absolute love, which recognises the 
inseparability between all beings. “The equality of friend and 
enemy.” “The oneness of myself and all things.” This great 
gift is contained in the Da Tsang Jen (Buddhist classics). The 
teachings in these seven thousand volumes can be summed up in 
one phrase : To cultivate sympathy and intellect, in order to 



254 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 

attain absolute freedom through wisdom and absolute love through 

pity. 

3. But our elder brother had still something more to give. 
He brought us invaluable assistance in the field of literature and 
art. In the first place, these came indirectly through Si-Yu ; and 
secondly from the Indian sages, who came to China bringing with 
them, as gifts for presentation to our Emperor, their pictures, 
sculptures, and books. Thirdly they were brought by the 
Chinese scholars on their return from India ; for instance, in the 
biography of Uuen Tsang, besides his observations on the classics, 
there was a list of articles in which were included all kinds of 
works of art. Lastly we learn from the translated classics, not 
only of India’s wisdom, but also of its art. 

4. Of minor gifts, I will enumerate only the following : 

Music. — This came indirectly through Si-Yu. We have no 
idea what our ancient music was like, for after the Southern and 
Northern Dynasties, it had degenerated and almost disa ppeared . 
It is possible that something was left in the South of the Yang 
Tse river, but in the North our own music gave way before the 
Indian influences, which were brought in by Si-Yu. The Suey 
and Tang dynasties succeeded the Norther dynasties and united 
the empire and thereafter this northern music predominated. The 
most popular tunes were Gan Chou, I Chou and Liang Chou, all 
names of districts in the Sin Chang and Gan Su provinces. But 
at that time these provinces were almost wholly under the influ- 
ence of India. To-day we have no record of the music of this 
era, except what has been preserved by the Japanese Royal House. 
But from what is recorded in the history of Tang and the Book 
of Music as well as in the appreciations of music found in our 
general literature, we can be certain that that music must have 
been beautiful and exquisite. The cause of such excellence is 
probably due to the marriage of Chinese and Indian modes. 

Architecture. — That China has been influenced by Indian in 
her architecture is an obvious fact although we have lost sight of 
the great work in the Cha Lan Temple in Lo Yang, and although 
we have to rely upon accounts met with in literature and poetry 
to obtain any idea of the beauty and grandeur of the temples of 



October, 1924] 


CHINA’S DEBT TO INDIA 


255 


Yung Pin (Perpetual Peace) and Tsze (Material Grace), we have 
still standing a number of ruins v, hich teil us of the glory of those 
olden days. The pagoda is purely Indian in origin, we never had 
it before the days of Indian influence. We do not always realise 
how much this particular form ot architecture adds to the natural 
beauty of our landscape. We cannot imagine the West Lake in 
Hang Chow without its two pagodas, the grand Lucy Fong 
(Thunder peak) and the graceful Ban Su. What charm would be 
in the City of Pian Lianz, if it were not for the presence of the 
iron pagoda and the pagoda T an T ui (House of abundance) ? The 
oldest piece of architecture in Peking is the pagoda in front of 
the temple Tien Nien (Heaveulv Peace) built at the end of the 
6th century A.D. What beauty of harmony does the island of 
Chung Hv>a (Fairy flower), in Fei Hei, reveal with the white 
pagoda on its peak and the long verandah below, which the 
combination of Chinese and Indian architecture alone could have 
achieved. There as elsewhere we see the wonderful interplay of 
these two cultures. 

Painting . — The paintings of the most ancient period of our 
history have disappeared. Only from the stone tablets and stone 
inscriptions, such as the famous Han paintings in Wu Liang T.se 
and Jab Siang Shien, do we obtain a glimpse of the fine simplicity 
cf style in the paintings of that period. The most renowned 
painters in our early history were Kuo Tan Wei and Kuo Hu To, 
They were famous for their paintings of Buddha. Another 
interesting relic is still to be found in Lo San, the famous shadow 
of Buddha, which I suspect to be the first piece of oil painting in 
China. A few of works of Wang Wei and Wu Tao T.se arc still 
preserved and for the most part they are Buddhistic pictures. It 
seems obvious that, from the East Chin dynasty to that of Tang, 
there was continuous communication between India and China 
and this, with its introduction of numerous Indian pictures, had 
a shaping influence upon Chinese art ; in fact we might go further 
and say that we probably owe the very foundation of our Chinese 
painting to India influence. This great school continued to 
flourish till the North Sung dynasty, when it was superseded by 
the artists of our Royal Academy. It is still regarded as embody - 
6 



256 THE VISVA-BHARAT 1 QUARTERLY [Karik, 1331 

ing the classical style of Chinese painting, so you see what a 
beautiful child this marriage between India and China has brought 
forth. 

Sculpture . — In olden times we had engravings upon stone 
but never, I think, sculpture in three dimensions before the intro- 
duction of Buddhism. From the Book of famous Monks, we 
learn that Tai An Tao (Tsin dynasty), who was generally known 
as a painter and a literary man, was also a sculptor. He and his 
brother worked together upon a large image of Buddha, which 
enjoyed great fame in its day. After that time there are records 
of famous sculptures executed during the six dynasties and the 
Sui and Tang. Unfortunately all these were destroyed during 
the Civil Wars as well as by the deliberate vandalism of three 
emperors, who were bitterly opposed to Buddhism. We still 
possess to-day the great rock sculptures and reliefs, three or four 
thousand in number, at Lo Yang and Lung Men. executed during 
the Wei and Tsi dynasties. But the greatest treasure we have is 
the group of figures at Yung Kwang, Da Tung and Shensi, large 
and small, not less than a thousand in number. It is said that 
the style is after Gandhara in Afghanistan, the result of the 
meeting between the Greek and the Indian Culture. This is 
indeed a priceless possession of which if it had not for our elder 
brother we should have been deprived. Incidentally, we might 
also mention the art of the ) kakimono, whose origin we also owe 
to India. Iu fact in the inventory of Yuen Tsang, there is a 
record of a number of kakimono, which he brought back with him 
from India. 

Drama . — We can trace the art of drama back to the play of 
Fish and Dragon, which was probably a species of magic or leger- 
demain, rather than drama in the modern sense. Dancing and 
Singing had their respective origins in ancient days, but the com- 
bination of the two does not seem to appear till after the Tsing 
Dynasty. The earliest operatic play we know of was called Pu 
Tow. Modern research has shown that it was introduced from a 
country called Bato, near Southern India, some ten thousand 
miles from Da Tung. The story of the play centres round a 
man who went into the mountains to avenge his father, who was 



October, 1924] 


CHINA’S DEBT TO INDIA 


257 


killed by a tiger. He expresses his feelings in passionate song 
and dance. Later plays such as Lian Ling Wang, the King of 
Lau Lin and the Tao Yao Niang were all patterned on Pu Tow. 
If this is true, then once again we are in debt to India in the field 
of drama. 

Poetry and Fiction . — To say that India influenced us even in 
poetry and fiction would perhaps seem astonishing. I myself am 
not certain whether in these modes of expression, we ever received 
any distant influence from India, but on the other hand we have 
reason to believe that the celebrated translation of the two great 
books, Fu Pan Shen Tsai (the life of Sakyamuni by Asvaghoshal 
and Dai Shen Chung Yen Tsin (Mahayana Sfitra) by the great 
Indian poet Ma Ming (Indian name unknown) must have exerted 
a decided influence upon our literature. Our original poetry from 
the Book of Odes to the five syllable lines of Han and Wei included 
only short personal lyrics. Narrative poetry never made its ap- 
pearance until the six dynasties in such poems as Rung 
Chou Tung Nan Fe and Fu Pan Shen Tsai, (originally a long 
biographical poem, but now rendered into Chinese prose in four 
books), which latter not only exerted great influence as Hindu 
literature, but was also greatly influential among literary circles in 
China during the six dynasties. Its vast imagination and rich 
emotional appeal opened new vistas for the Chinese poets and I 
suspect that the Rung Chou Tung Nan Fe and the long narrative 
poems of the same order were themselves inspired by this great 
work. There is clear evidence that our Novel writing was under 
the direct influence of Mahayana translations. It seems to me 
that our tales from the Tein to the Tang period, were modelled on 
them. Our novels, properly speaking, did not appear till the 
Sung period and were largely the product of our study of Hua 
Yuan and Pan Chi (Ratna Uta), 

Astronomy and Calendar.— This special branch of science 
was early cultivated in China, but received further development 
in the Tang period, when the publication of Ju Tchu Sie showed 
distinct influence from India. 

Medicine . — This is an original art in China but it received 
great encouragement from our contact with India. What is 



258 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 

recorded in the History of Suey and in the Books on Art and 
Literature in the History of Tang gives sufficient proofs of my 
assertion. 

Alphabet . — The Chinese language is by nature pictorial, 
and that is a great disadvantage. With the introduction of 
Buddhism and Sanskrit a number of Indian scholars attempted to 
invent an alphabetical system to solve our difficulties. Although 
it was rather crude and did not yield very satisfactory results, it 
furnished us with valuable material for further experimentation. 

Literary style . — Ancient Chinese written books do not show 
sufficient effort at organisation and therefore lack clarity of 
presentation. With the coining in of Buddhist classics, it began 
to be more systematic and consequently more lucid and logical 
in the exposition of ideas. Indian logic (Hetuvidya) and metho- 
dology opened a new era in China in the art of writing. Yuan 
Chuang was one of the most painstaking students of this new 
science and he and his new followers created a new school of 
thought famous for its rigorous analytical and critical method, 
which stood in direct opposition to the contemplative and introspec- 
tive method of the Zen Buddhists. 

hducational method . — Exactly how education was conducted 
in ancient China no one is able to tell, but we are quite certain 
that Confucius and Mencius did not resort to the method of 
addressing large audiences for the propagation of their teachings, 
and it is quite likely, therefore, that the system of formal lectur- 
ing,. with which we are so familiar to-day, came from India 
Furthermore the academics which flourished since the Tang 
dynasty cannot be other than Buddhist in origin. Whether this 
setting part of particular institutions for the investigation of 
specialised problems has great educational value is another 
question, but we must acknowledge the important position which 
this method occupies in Chinese educational history. 

Social Organisation . — The unit of Chinese society is the 
family. The different forms of social organisation are only the 
family in its various modifications. Since Buddhism became 
popular in China, public bodies with religious and scholarly 
purposes, independent of the family, began to appear. And 



October, 1924] 


CHINA’S DEBT TO INDIA 


259 


these flourished in such extraordinary degree that the power of 
Government could have no xmtrol over them. The Pu Do 
islands, up to the present day, enjoy exclusive judicial privileges 
and are administered on a peculiar social basis of a more or less 
communist’c nature. 

What I have referred to above comprise the main elements 
of our Buddhistic heritage and i am prou^ to say that we have 
made use of it to good purpose. 

Indian thought has been entin ly assimilated into our own 
world of experience and lias become m inalienable part of our 
consciousness. It has helped us to develop our faculties and has 
enabled us to achieve notable results in the various fields of 
literary and artistic endeavour. Even if we confine our case to 
Buddhism itself, we find that we have made seme worthy contri- 
butions to its many metaphysical systems, forming ever new 
schools of thought upon the foundation of the old, through the 
energy and application of men like Yuan Chiang ; so that we may 
take just pride in saying that Buddhism has become as distinctly 
Chinese as it is Indian. 

We have unfortunately been separated from one another now 
for at least one thousand years and have each pursued our respec- 
tive lines of development. We have had calamities during these 
years of separation. What have we not experienced? We have 
been threatened mocked, trampled upon and have suffered all 
possible mortifications, so much so indeed that not only have we 
been looked upon with contemptuous eyes, but we ourselves have 
begun to lose the sense of self-respect. 

But we have faith in the imperishability of human endeavour 
and the seeds we have sown, in spite of the many vicissitudes and 
inclemencies which we are passing through, will eventually bring 
us harvest in the fulness of time. 

Do not we find an inspiring symbol in the ancient trees of 
the sacred wood round Confucius’ tomb, reputed to have been 
planted by himself and his chief disciples, which though shrunk 
with senility and almost in a petrified state, are yet capable of 
manifesting their hidden vitality by shooting forth new branches 
of tender green, when the earth is awakened to the call of Spring ? 



26 o 


THE VISVA-BIIARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


Both the civilisations represented by India and China are hoary 
with ancient traditions and yet I feel that there is in them the 
vigour of eternal youth, which shows itself to-day in India in the 
two great personalities of Tagore and Gandhi. 

After a thousand years of separation during which period, 
however, we two continued to cherish thoughts of love for one 
another, this elder brother of ours has once more come to us 
animated with fraternal sentiments. Both of us bear lines of 
sorrow on our face, our hair is grey with age, we stare with a 
blank and vacant look as if we are just awakened from a dream ; 
but, as we gaze on each other, what recollections and fond memo- 
ries of our early youth rise in our mind, — of those days, when we 
shared our joys and sorrows together ! Now that we have once 
more the happiness of embracing, we shall not allow ourselves 
to separate again. 

We would welcome Mr. Tagore in the same spirit as, 
more than one thousand years ago, the people of Lo-Yang wel- 
comed Shimonden, or as the people of Lusan welcomed Chang Ti. 

Mr. Tagore wishes to make it known that he is not a religious 
teacher or an educationist or a philosopher, he nays that he is only 
a poet. This we fully acknowledge. 

And he says also that he cannot place himself on the same 
level as as his predecessors, who came in our early dynasties, 
because India at that time was in a period of great epic pre- 
eminence ; it was an epoch which was capable of giving birth to 
great ideals and noble personalities, and therefore totally different 
in its spirit to the present era of transition, where human thoughts 
and ideas are in a state of turmoil and confusion and therefore 
offer no encouragement to the development of genuine and worthy 
personalities. This sentiment we can also, I think, appreciate. 

And yet, to be a great poet needs more than an exquisite 
sense of wdiat is artistic, — one must also be inspired by serious 
and magnanimous thoughts. In the personality of Mr. Tagore, 
as well as in his poetry, we find that exemplification of those 
principles of absolute love and absolute freedom, which form the 
basis of Hindu culture and civilisation . 

I have no adequate idea of Hindu poetry in the great classical 
period and cannot, therefore, compare that with the work of our 



October , 1924] 


china’s debt to India 


261 


distinguished guest. But I am perfectly sure that Mr. Tagore 
is as important to us as Asvaghosha who wrote the life of Buddha 
in ancient days, and we hope the influence he is going to exert in 
China will not in any way be inferior to that of Kumarajiva and 
Chang-ti . 

Mr. Tagore says also that lie has nothing to offer as a gift 
from India, but hr wishes to express the rentiments of love of the 
people of India from which he has come as a representative. 
I wish to say in reply that the sentiments of love are more worthy 
than all the gifts that he can possibly offer us. We are more 
than overfed to receive them and wc wish that he would take 
back with him our love and sympathy, which are, I can assure 
him, even more intense than his own. 

Wc trust that, on this occasion, the love between China and 
India will not terminate with the one or two months which 
Dr. Tagore is able to spend in this country. The responsibility 
that we bear to the whole of mankind is great indeed, and there 
should be, I think, a warm spirit of co-operation between India 
and China. The coming of India’s Poet will, I hope, mark the 
beginning of an important epoch. 

If we can avail of this occasion to renew the intimate relation- 
ship which we had with India and to establish a really constructive 
scheme of co-operation, then our welcome to Dr. Tagore will have 
real significance. 



262 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kariic , 1331 


THE MAGNIFICENCE OF DEATH. 

By Rabindranath. 

As the tender twilight covers in its fold of dusk-veil 
Marks of hurt and wastage from the dusty day’s prostration, 

Even so let my great sorrow for thy loss, Beloved, 

Spread one perfect golden-tinted silence of its sadness 
O’er my life. Let all its jagged fractures and distortions, 

All unmeaning scattered scraps and wrecks and random ruins, 
Merge in vastness of some evening stilled with thy remembrance, 
Filled with endless harmony of pain and peace united. 


Love, thou hast made great my life with death’s magnificence, 
And hast tinted all my thoughts and dreams with radiant hues 
Of thy farewell rays. The tear-washed limpid light reveals 
At life’s last sunset-point, the hints of Paradise 
Where descending flame of Kiss from starry sphere of love 
Lights the sorrows of our earth to splendour of their end. 

In one blazing ecstacy of uttermost extinction. 

Love, thou hast made one vast wonder Life and Death for me. 



SOME FACTORS IN THE MAXING OF BENGAL. 

By Panchcowrie Banerjee. 


We present, in translation, a second instalment from the notes cn the 
Special Features of the Bengali Race left in our hands by the author, 
shortly before ihis death. — Ed. 

From the earliest ages, Bengal had a distinct civilisation of 
its own, different from and a rival to that of the Aryan invaders 
of India. And, neither the Vedic religion, nor the social ritual 
based on it, ever took deep root in our province, in spite of the 
fact that, age after age, fresh Aryan blood froai western India, 
continued to be imported. 

I do not hesitate to adroit that Bengal owed much in the way 
of learning and outlook to the Aryans, but, in assimilating Aryan 
lore and culture, the Bengali made it soft and cool and rich, with 
all the luscious sweetness that characterises the products of his 
alluvial Motherland. 

That is why the beef-eating, sowa-bibbing Aryan of old 
apparently waxed wroth and laid down the injunction that whoso- 
ever should sojourn in that seductively bewitching region of 
Bengal, for purposes other than temporary pilgrimage, would be 
required to undergo purification on his return ! 

It is a pity that we Bengalis, the inheritors of this age-old 
distinction, know so little of, care so little about, feel so little 
pride in the glorious past of our race and our land, the first home 
of Ahimsa; for, as I hope to show another time, Buddhism found 
its most congenial field for development, and Jainism its origin, 
in Bengal. 

The Bengali Language. 

The first thing that strikes one with wonder is, how this vast 
tract now known as Bengal, differentiated by climatic conditions, 
cut up by immense rivers, should at all have come under one and 
the same language and tradition, as we find it to-day. 

Regard for historical truth, as glimpses of it have come to 

7 



264 


THE V1SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, JJJj 


me, compels me to ascribe this, not to Vedic or Aryan influence, 
but to the unique proselytising' proclevities of the Shakas (the race 
which gave birth to Shakya Sinha, the Buddha) and to the 
democratic spirit of other later incoming races, possibly offshoots 
of Chaldeans or Huns, to which many of the subsequent Buddhist 
missionaries belonged. 

It was due to these racial characteristics that the leading 
spirits of the Sahajia and Tantric sects (Bengal forms of Buddhism) 
set out with a comprehensive programme of spreading their 
culture amongst the masses. By dint of their own pursuit of the 
simple life, on the one hand, and the employment as instruments 
by them of song and story couched in the vernacular, on the other, 
these Siddhacharyas (Teachers who had won self-realisation) 
carried far and wide what they called the “True Religion” which 
was nothing but “natural” or “free” religion based on Buddhist 
teaching, expressed by the different exponents in slightly varied 
forms, and above all actually lived. 

The number of these Siddhacharyas was legion ; but we find 
such names as Lui, Kanha, Sabar, Nagarjun, Dak, Nadha 
standing out more prominently in our old literature. Srijnan 
Dipankar, who became famed in Tibet as Atisa, and Ratnakar 
Santi, both of them pillars of the Vikramsila University, and 
renowned for their learning throughout the then civilised world, 
were reckoned amongst the Siddhacharyas in Bengal, and so were 
many of the Jain holy men. 

Dak and his followers were not singers, but reciters of 
legends and stories. A section of the modern Puranic reciters 
arq, of this school and their recitations are even now called the 
Katha (stories) of Dak. Nadha has left his name to the Neda- 
nedi sect of wandering Vaishnavas, still to be seen to-day. We 
have the Bengali proverb : “No song but Kami's”. K&nu is 
a pet name for Srikrislina as well, and the proverb is sometimes 
misinterpreted to mean that no song is worth singing unless it 
treats of Krishna. It really, however, refers to the compositions 
of Kanha (Kanhu, Kanu, Kan), the Siddhacharya, who was the 
originator of the Bengal form of Kirtan, or sacred mass-singing. 

This Kanha originally belonged to the class of Sraman 
pandits, or Buddhist preachers ; but, as the cultural unification 



October, 1924] 


THE MAKING OF BENGAL 


265 


of Bengal proceeded, his followers came to be included under the 
head of Brahmins, being known up to only the other day, as 
Kinnara- or Kan-Brahmins, meaning Brahmin bards. To this 
caste belonged Jayadeva, whose Gita-Govinda has become an all- 
India classic ; and he, with his wife, with the bonhomie character- 
istic of true Bengal poets, used to go about singing and dancing 
to his own melodious verses, — a perf 01 mauce shocking to the 
austere susceptibilities of the pure- bred Western Brahmin. 

In fact, when later on, an Aryan polish same to be super- 
imposed upon the people, the descendants of this and other 
similar castes dropped their epithets of kinnara or kdn, gandharva 
o’ gdiidh, with their derogatory associations of public singing and 
dancing by both sexes, and took shelter in one or other of the 
upper castes — Brahmin, Vaidva or Kayastha— of Orthodoxy, in 
the fold of which they remain hidden awai' to-day. 

When in the succeeding age, Clxaitanya and Nity&nanda 
arose, they found ready to hand these trained reciters and singers - 
of the Siddhacharyas, and with their help was laid the foundation 
of the V aishnavism which up to the present day holds its sway 
over the heart of Bengal. And . further, from Chaitanya down to 
Rabindranath, an unfailing succession of poets have built up the. 
crowning edifice of Bengal’s genius — the Religion of Love — upon 
the broad base of Buddha’s original ideal of Ahimsa. 

The language which these Siddhacharyas used for their 
religious ballads, lyrics and other compositions, was called the 
Sandhyd language. The word sandhyd means borderland, and 
hence is also used to mean twilight. 

Pandit Haraprasad Shastri came to the conclusion that the 
language used by the Siddhacharyas was called sandhyd, because 
it was a kind of twilight language, which sought to give mere 
glimpses of the high truths of Buddhism, not in their pure 
original form, but in such modified shape as could be understood 
by the common people, leaving deliberately vague what it was not 
deemed safe or useful for them to worry about. With this 
conclusion I cannot agree. 

The tract to the S. E. of Bhagalpur, comprising the western 
portions of Birbhum and the Sonthal Perganas, is the borderland 
between the old Aryavarta (the Indian domicile of the Aryans) 



266 THE VIS V A-BH ARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 

and Bengal proper, and was called the Sandhya country. Any- 
one who is familiar with the several dialects, all closely resem- 
bling one another, spoken in that region, cannot have any doubts 
as to their near relationship to the language used by the Siddha- 
charyas. 

Pandit Haraprasad Shastri would perhaps have been surpris- 
ed to learn that many of the poems and songs collected by him are 
still extant in this Sandhya country. The Sandhya dialect has 
its own minor variations and its eastern form was the immediate 
precursor of Bengali proper. 

. Why Bengal failed of Aryanisation. 

As I have said, Buddhism was par excellence the proselytis- 
ing religion, and its Bengal missionaries, the Siddhicharyas, 
developed in a wonderful degree the art of translation-cum- 
exposition, through the vernacular, of the high truths which the 
orthodox Aryans preferred to veil in the language of their gods, 
— Sanskrit. This resulted in the spread of mass culture in a way 
and to a degree undreamt of by any modern civilisation. 

One can easily understand how stimulated must have been 
the growth of a language, so used as a vehicle for the dissemination 
of the best culture of the times, by such towering pandits as Srijnan 
Dipankar and Ratnakara Santi, of Vikramsila University. And 
I am entirely at one with Pandit Haraprasad Shastri when he says 
that, even before the Mohamedan conquest, the Bengali language 
had already attained remarkable development, and that both 
Bengali literature and culture, the individuality as well as the 
distinction of the Bengali race, were established upon a Buddhistic 
foundation. 

The Sahajia system of natural religion, a product of the 
reaction of Buddhism on the mind of Bengal, was subdivided into 
three sects, each pursing a path of its own to the self-realisation 
of Man, called respectively the AvadMti , the Chanddli, and the 
DSmbi or Bangdli. Those who belonged to the last named were 
called Bangdlis which was thus originally the name of the 
followers of a particular cult of Buddhism and not of the inhabit- 
ant of a particular region. This was the cult mainly propagated 
by the Siddhacharyas and thus eventually gave its name to the 
people of the tracts which fell under their influence. 



October, 1924 ] THE MAKING OF BENGAL 267 

It is difficult, to day, to estimate the vastness of that influence 
of the Siddhacharyas over the masses now known as Bengalis, 
but some idea of it may be gained by visiting any village fair, or 
religious festivity of the people, in any part of our province, and 
paying careful heed to the songs which are sung by the wander- 
ing bo, ills (lit. madcaps) who invariably congregate on such 
occasions. The philosophy of the worship of Man Wonderful 
will then be heard, rendered in its original dialect. 

It was probably with the 'dea nf combating this all-pervad- 
ing Buddhist influence on the masses, that the dominant Aryan 
upper-classes used, from time to time, to make importations of 
pure Aryan blood from western India. And, when most of the 
big zammdarics had been farmed out to these imported Brahmins, 
an artificial Aryan polish eventually came to he imposed on the 
Hindus of Bengal. 

These pedigreed Brahmins from Aryavarta were, however, 
exclusive, stand-offish, supercilious. They kept their learning 
and their sacred rituals to themselves, fortified against alien 
inroads within the fastness of archaic Sanskrit ; they entered inti' 
no intimacy of social relations with the people amongst whom 
thejr came to dwell, confining their religious ministrations to the 
King and upper-classes. That is why, on the one hand, these 
attempts at the Aryanisation of Bengal never went deep, but 
remained at most as a superficial veneer; and, on the other, the 
leadership of the masses remained in the hands of the Siddha 
charyas, who had realised religion in their own lives and were 
also imbued with the democratic as well as proselytising spirit of 
their original race. 

So recently as eighty, or even fifty, years ago, when the 
Buddhist influence had thus been driven underground, there were 
still to be found in many villages stray devotees, usually designat- 
ed with some epithet signifying “mad”, who, with their groups 
of disciples of all castes, kept up the Buddhist cults as they 
had taken shape in Bengal, under shelter of this self-adopted 
“madness.” Bishu Pagla of Santipur, Bam a Khepa of Tarapur, 
Bali Hadi of Meherpur, are well-known examples. And, every 
now and then, up to perhaps the present time, the Buddhist 
culture, which is very much alive, though popularly supposed to 



2 68 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


have been driven out of Hindu territory, pushes through the 
Aryan veneer on top, and crops up in unexpected, often un- 
recognised forms. 


Bengal’s reaction to Islam. 

With the establishment of the Maliomedan invaders of India 
as children of its soil, further and larger syntheses, comprising 
both Hindu and Moslem ideals, were attempted all over India, as 
is evidenced by the cults founded by Nanak, Kabir, Dadu and 
others. The great Emperor Akbar himself promulgated a common 
leligion, the Din-i-Ilahi, which, in my younger days, I have 
personally seen in living form amongst the Lai as and Khetris 
in the country to the west of Bengal. 

But the manner in which such synthesis was shaping in 
Bengal itself, had a liberal and intimate character of its own. 

• The hauls, who later on took up the propagation of the Sahajia 
cult, were originally the spiritual descendents of the Jalali faqirs, 
so called after Jalaluddin, the first name of Akbar the Great. 
Many a Maliomedan faqir, of other denominations also, came to 
be accepted as gurus by Hindu sects. Even now pious 
Brahmins, while bathing, sing the praises of the Ganges in the 
words of Darab Gazi, a Maliomedan poet. The hymns to 
Shyama (the Dark goddess), by Janabali Khan of East Bengal, 
were once as popular as those of Ramprasad himself. There is 
to-day a sect of Sufi Tantriks in Midnapur which counts its 
adherents by the thousand. Satyapir, the Mahomedan Saint, 
is still worshipped by the most orthodox of Hindu women, all 
over Bengal. 

And I fully believe that if this process had not been disturbed 
and checked by the advent of the creed-bound Britisher, with his 
cast-iron habits of mind and methods of government, which for the 
first time crystallised Bengal Hinduism into a rigid orthodoxy, 
Hindu-Moslem unity, by now, would have been an accomplished 
fact in this Province. 

What is more, from my reading of the Sfinya Purana, I 
strongly suspect that it was not a case of the invasion of Bengal 
by the Pathan at all, but that the Pathans were invited, or at all 



October, 1924] 


THE MAKING OF BENGAL 


269 


events welcomed, into Bengal by the Buddhist masses, followers 
of the Siddhacharyas, who were then at the height of their 
influence, which ranged from Panchkot in the North-West, right 
down to Chittagong and Arracan in the South-East. 

One of the results of this f riendly intimacy of our people 
with the Pathans, was the wholesale conversion to Islam of a large 
part of East Bengal, and a further inf usicn of new blood into the 
Bengali race, by an intermingling of the two. 

We find further evidences of this friendship between the 
Pathan and the original Bengali during the wars of Moghul and 
Pathan, when the flower of Bengal’s manhood sacrificed them- 
selves on the battle-field on the side of the Pathans, winning un- 
stinted praise from their antagonists, the Moghal generals, for 
their bravery. 

This transition from Pathan to Moghal domination was a 
great period, — which may be likened to the Augustan period, — 
in the history of Bengal. For, though on the one hand anarchy 
and license were doubtless rampant, on the other, rose Lord 
Chaitanya, Nityananda, Krishnananda Again vagish, Raghu- 
nandan, Devivara, who, as we have seen, brought about between 
them a coherent expansion of Hindu Bengal into one cultural 
unit, on a scale the vastness of which is beyond modern com- 
prehension. 

Now or Never ! 

As I have said, devotees of these various Buddhist cults are 
still to be found among the so-called lower classes, for the seeking ; 
much of the ceremonial in vogue amongst the women of Bengal 
m their special religious observances, such as vraias, and in the 
women’s part of the Hindu Marriage ceremony and other social 
lituals, retain unmistakeable traces of their other than Aryan 
origin ; the village reciters and singers of the compositions of the 
original religious preachers have not as yet entirely died out. 

Now is the time, or never, when those of us who would lay 
the foundation for a real and abiding patriotism, a true pride in 
the special distinctions of our wonderful Motherland, should bestir 
themselves to imaugurate a scientific study of the existing 
materials, already fast vanishing, before it is too late. 



270 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 


BEFORE THE DAWN. 

Bereft of the spirit of initiative, tired of impotent revolts, and deprived 
of legitimate ambitions, the Chinese and the Indian of to-day have come 
to prostrate themselves before the inevitable. Some among them find 
refuge in the memory of past grandeur, thus hardening the crust of tradi- 
tion and exclusiveness; while the souls of others, wafted among etheriai 
dreams, seek solace in an appeal to the unknown. 

The Night of Asia which enshrouds them is not perhaps without its 
own subtle beauty. It reminds us of the deep, glorious nights we know 
so well in the East, — listless like wonder, serene like sadness, opalescent 
like love. One may listen to the secret cadence of nature beyond the 
border where sound bows to silence. 

Japan, who proved herself equal to the task of repelling the Mongol 
invasion, found little difficulty in resisting that attempt at Western 
encroachment which, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, came 
in the form of the Shimabara revellion, instigated by the Jesuits. It has 
been our boast that no foreign conqueror ever polluted the soil of Japan, 
but these attepts at aggression from the outside hardened our insular pre- 
judice into a desire for complete isolation from the rest of the world. For 
the space of nearly two and seventy years we were as one buried alive ! 

Yet worse, the Tokugawa Shoguns, who brought about this remarkable 
isolation of Japan, threw their invisible tyranny over all the nation. Said 
Kampici, the Chinese Macliiavelli, in telling the secret of absolutism 
twenty-two centuries ago: “ Amuse them, tire them not, let them not 
know.” Iycyasu, the first Tokugawa Shogun, a past master of craft, 
followed these injunctions but too faithfully. We were amused, we cared 
not for change, we did not seek to know. 

From the highest to the lowest, all were entangled in a suble web of 
mutual espionage, and every element of individuality was crushed under 
the unbending weight of formalism. Deprived of all stimulus from without, 
and imprisoned within, our island realm groped amid a maze of tradition. 
Darkest over us lay the Night of Asia. 


— Okakura. 



HOW THE INDIAN PAGODA WENT EAST. 

By Kshitish-prasad Chattopadhvay. 

The manner in which Indian influence of old travelled into 
China and through China further East, present fascinating 
questions to those who are looking forward to a re-union of the 
cultures of all the East. And a study of the bordering regions 
such as Nepal and Tibet may well be expected to throw consider- 
able light on the process of such interchange as undoubtedly took 
place along inland routes. 

In the present sketch I offer a few notes from my study of 
the Newars of Nepal, which may serve to indicate some of the 
intricacies which have to be umavelled in the process of deciding 
which is the origin and which the recipient of the influence. 

Take the case of the Pagoda type of architecture, to which 
I propose to confine myself on this occasion. Following perhaps 
the loose ideas prevalent in modern Anglo-India, due to the 
suggestion of Hamilton and others, it has come to be popularly 
supposed that the pagoda, which is such a distinctive feature of 
Far-Eastern landscape, is typical of architecture of Mongolian 
origin and therefore occurs in the frontier regions of India as an 
importation from the other side of the border. But, on a detailed 
consideration of the facts relating to the Newar race, the reverse 
is found to be the case. 

The valley of Nepal proper is mainly inhabited bv the 
Newars who form the most numerous group of the inhabitants 
of the Kingdom of Nepal. The Gurkhas, who are the dominant 
i uling people at the present time, entered Nepal in a body, only 
in recent times. The Newars are the earlier people, and to them 
are almost wholly confined metal working, agriculture, painting 
architecture, sculpture and the literature that Nepal possesses. 
The Gurkhas are merely the military conquerers, indifferent 
patrons of arts and letters, and include only a few artisan castes, 
or rather outcastes, among them. 



2/2 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 

The Newars are divided into — 

( i ) Bauddhamargis who worship Buddha, and 
(«) Sivamargis who worship Siva. 

The latter may be termed Hindus. Formerly the vast 
majority of Newars were Buddhists, and a minority Sivamargis, 
but the former have been losing ground steadily for a long tim*- 
in favour of the latter, who are now between a half and a third of 
the population. 

The Sivamargis have an organisation similar to that of the 
Hindus of the plains, although of a much simpler character. 

The highest caste is that of the Brahmans who are the 
spiritual guides of the upper castes. They are said to be 
descendants of Brahmans who had originally come from Kanauj. 

Next in rank are the descendants of the former Hindu Newar 
Kings and their agnates who rank as Kshatriyas. The former 
warrior caste of Sresthas is also held to fall within this group, 
though it occupies a much lower position. 

The third group, the Vaisyas, comprise two castes, the Joshi 
or astrologer, and the Achar or priests of local deities, presum- 
ably belonging to older cults adapted by Hinduism. They 
minister to Hinduised Newars, expound the Sastras, and perform 
other religious duties, acting in fact as some kind of Brahmans. 

All these three groups are entitled to wear the thread, except 
some of the Srestha sub-castes. Some of these latter units, who 
serve as cooks and domestic servants, as well as other household 
menials, have been classified by one authority as Sudras. 

Another caste, the Gwa or Manda Gaw, the cowherds are 
definitely Brahmanic Hindus and seem to have existed in Nepal 
for some centuries now, at least. 

In addition to these, there are several castes of Newars who 
formerly belonged to the third order of Bauddhamargis described 
later, but are now more Hinduised than the other members of 
that group and separated from them to some extent. 

These castes are : the Bhat, the Kou, the Nou, the Tati and 
the Katha. The Kou are merely blacksmiths, the Nou barbers, 
and the Katha dress wounds, and cut the umbilical cord at birth. 
The Tatis are not ordinary weavers but produce grave-clothes, 



October, 1924] 


THE INDIAN TAGODA 


273 


called ponga, a kind of cotton clotli, for shrouding the dead-bodies 
cf the Newars, and also used in many religious ceremonies. The 
Bhats are also connected with funeral* ; they accept the death 
gifts made on the eleventh day after the funeral of Newars of any 
caste (but excluding outcastcs). 

The Bauddhamai gis of Nepal are divided into three grades, 
c f which the highest is that of tlie Bardyas, more commonly 
termed Banras. They are said to be the descendants ot the 
Buddhist monks who were compelled to break their vow of 
celibacy and live as householders. They still live in the Viharas 
or convents, although with their wives and children. 

The greater number of Bandyas, including even those who 
still minister to religious needs, follow secular occupations. All 
professions except foreign trade, and the work done by outcastes 
seem to be open to them. Their hereditary secular occupation 
is however that of gold and silversmiths, of which they have a 
monopoly in Nepal. So far as intermarriage and commensality 
is concerned, the different sections of Bandyas are on a footing of 
perfect equality. They do not however marry into or eat with 
any other group. The sole exception seems to be in the case of 
Brahmans. Only a Brahman lad can become a member of this 
group although not belonging to it by right of birth. He has to 
be adonpted by a Gubhaju (Buddhist priest) and initiated before 
marriage. 

The next group of Bauddliamargis, it that of the Udas. They 
are the class of traders and foreign merchants of Nepal. They 
however follow other occupations also, as working in stone, wood 
or metal, and the do not constitute any bar to intermarriage or 
commensality. They can accept food from Banras, and also 
admit a man of this group to theirs, but the converse does not 
hold. 

The third group includes the bulk of the people. The 
Jyapoos, who stand at its head, are mainly cultivators and consti- 
tute at least half the population of Nepal. Besides the agricul- 
turists, the Jyapoos have several sections (not sub-castes) follow- 
ing different occupations, the most important of which is perhaps 
that of the Kumhals or potters. The other members of the third 
group follow carpentry, oil-pressing, and other occupations. 



274 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Karlic, 1331 


This group of Newars is, however, largely Hinduised and rapidly 
becoming more so. 

In this connection it should be noted, that in Newar society, 
occupations are hereditary, and members of one craft are not 
supposed to encroach upon the technical duties and rights of 
another. Some professions however do not bring living wages ; 
thus the Nalli whose traditional occupation is to paint the eye of 
an image at a certain religious festival, certainly cannot hope to 
live by that alone. They have to supplement their earnings from 
hereditary pursuits with something else. Such people can have 
lecourse to any of the general professions, as cultivation, petty 
trade, tailoring, and porter’s work which are not the special pri- 
vilege of any section of the people. 

The duties inherited must however be performed as laid 
dowrg although the exigencies of the case may have prevented a 
caste or section from devoting itself to that work alone. A 
peculiarity of these castes is that most of them have some 
function or other to perform at the various religious festivals, 
The castes and hereditary occupational sections are in fact 
religious organisations as much as secular ones. 

All the above three groups of Bauddhamargis are pure to the 
Newar Hindus i.e. the latter can accept water from their hands 
for drinking purposes. The Banras were specially honored 
as they were held to be the peers of Brahmans. The Brahmanic 
Hindus who have come in with the Gurkhas however, seem to 
consider all Bauddhas as anacharaniya i.e. impure for accepting 
water etc. 

Levi ascribes the beginnings of Newar civilisation to Indian 
influence. The light of religion, according to him, came un- 
doubtedly through the Buddhist missionaries who discreetly 
adapted their creed to suit the ruder people of Nepal. Before 
however their labors had borne fruit, the forces of Brahmanism 
burst in and largely destroyed their work, forcibly converting 
some, and compelling the celibate monks to marry. Levi, how- 
ever, suggests that the lapse of the monks from celibacv was due, 
not so much to the oppression of Brahmans, as to the decadence of 
Buddhism itself. His view is that the married clergy, still living 
in their ancient convents, did not find their traditional religious 



October, 1Q24 ] 


THE INDIAN PAGODA 


275 


calilng sufficient for the new needs brought about by family life, 
and had to adopt secular professions. 

In this way the Bandyas wtre formed into a clearly defined 
social class, and the material condition of their existence, added 
to an imitation of Brahmans, quickly hardened class into caste. 
The religious aristocracy, which thus arose, regarded the 
ordinary layman as inferior, and the very natural unwilling- 
ness to share the privileges the}?’ possessed because of their former 
condition made the caste bounds more rigorous. Finally, the arts 
exercised in the convents, transmitted from father to son, attained 
a high degree of excellence, and as the knowledge was kept a 
secret in the monasteries, finally became monopolies. 

On the other hand, the royal families of Nepal, the 
Lichchhavis (as well as Mallas) could scarcely obtain acceptance 
as true Kshatriyas without opposition. Then- names were too 
well known in Buddhist annals and the tribes had been grouped 
by Manu among inferior castes as Vratya or fallen Kshatriyas. 
To wipe out this stain and take their rightful place among 
Kshatriyas, they followed the rules of caste with an excessive 
rigour, and thus led to the formation of a Ksliatriya caste in 
Nepal, professing a mixed Bauddha and Brahman ic faith and 
thereby serving to unite the two religions. 

Finally, the Brahmans who had brought the Saiva cult from 
India, had also introduced among their faithful, the regime of 
caste, modified it is true, by the needs of time and place. In this 
way were formed the two divisions in Nepal, one rigidly observ- 
ing the laws of caste in the matter of marriage and commensality, 
the other hostile in principle to caste, but already modified by 
contact with the other. The religious and military aristocracies 
at their heads formed close parallels to those of the Hindus, and 
the power of example given by the superior classes, was effective 
in fostering the growth of caste among the lower orders of the 
people, through the force of imitation. 

These considerations of social organisation, briefly sketched 
above, make it abundantly clear, apart from the authoritative 
opinion of Levi, that whether Hindu or Buddhist the culture of 
the Newars is distinctively Indian. The evidence from arts and 
crafts also supports this view. 



2 76 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1 331 


The available facts in regard to metal work and carpentry, 
though not decisive, are of interest. The cleverest smiths in 
Tibet are the Newars who have gone there; while the Tibetans 
themselves are clumsy carpenters and jewellers. Moreover, 
formerly over a long period, the Nepalese were the architects of 
the temples, the sculptors of the Buddha statues and the ikon 
painters of Tibet, and there is no question that the Buddhist 
images, pictures and objects of art at present produced in Tibet 
are worthless compared to the art of former times. The fact that 
at the present moment the Tibetan lamas who follow these arts 
are far superior to the common craftsmen does not stand against 
this view, if it is remembered that Newar artisans were sent to 
the monasteries so far distant as the interior of Tartary to decorate 
the great Lamaseries. 

The structure of the loom and the technique of weaving show 
that this art, also, did not come from the Tibetan side ; the 
instruments for spinning likewise seem to have come from India. 

The agricultural implements further support the view that 
the characteristic early culture of Nepal came from the Indian 
side. Although terracing and irrigation are employed in Tibet, 
the turning up of the soil is done not with the hoe, but by the 
Indian plough, drawn by a mixed breed of cattle obtained by 
crossing a male yak with a cow. 

We now come to the suggestion that the style of building and 
architecture in Nepal is derived from China and Tibet. While 
the Chaityas follow the form of the earlier Buddhistic monuments 
of India, with some modifications, the characteristic examples 
of Nepalese temples are in a different style, unlike anything found 
in India proper, except in the far south, in the Kanara country. 
This is the so-called Pagoda style of architecture. The character- 
istics of these temples are that 

(i) they are built in several stages, each smaller than the 
one beneath, with 

(it) sloping roofs and projecting eaves supported by 
inclined beams. 

(Hi) They generally rise, not directly from the ground but. 
from a square terrace. 

The lowest stage is the sanctuary and is covered almost 



October, 1924] 


THE INDIAN PAGODA 


277 


invariably with red tiles. The upper storeys are covered with 
gilded plates of copper. As ha"; been mentioned, the strong 
resemblance of these temples to the pagodas of China and Japan, 
in the absence of similar edifices in India proper, has led 
Hamilton and others to suggest a Chinese origin. 

Levi, however, maintains that these pagodas represent a style 
of Indian religious architecture which has disappeared in India 
proper. He suggests that although the buildings are recent, not 
earlier that the 15 century A.D., yet the architecture reproduces 
without doubt forms of immemorial antiquity, and hints that they 
might be directly evolved from the early wooden architecture of 
Indian which preceded and acted as the model of the most ancient 
stone monuments of the country. 

To explain the resemblance of the Chinese pagodas and 
Japanese temples, Le\i suggests that the parallels are due to 
Newar influence. He supports his hypothesis with the facts that : 

(1) Newars have largely influenced art in China, and this 

is admitted in the annals. 

(2) Newar artisans were widely employed in Tibet 

Tartary and many parts of China and this 
continued uo to modern times. 

And he gives, in his book on Nepal, a very interesting 
account of the building of a golden pagoda in Tibet, by the 
Emperor of China, in 1260 A.D. The artisans employed were 
all obtained from Nepal, and worked under a Newar master- 
builder. This artist, Arniko name, later on went to the Chinese 
court and became the master-builder and statue-founder of the 
Empire. 

Havell has arrived at the same conclusions from a study of 
early and mediaeval Indian architecture. He suggests that the 
pagoda style in Nepal is founded upon the Asana type of temple 
architecture in India. The names of the Indian styles are derived 
from the figure within, in this case seated in a yoga attitude. The 
simplest form of it is a plain cubical cell with a flat roof or dome. 
When the artists sought to give importance to the shrine bv 
additional height, they simply raised the roof by putting cube 
upon cube like a pyramid, and crowned the topmost one with a 
dome. 



278 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


This Indian style, Havell suggests, was modified in the 
Himalayan districts (and also in the West Coast) because of the 
heavy rainfall. Flat terraced roofs are very inconvenient and 
they were therefore adapted to the needs of the place, just as in 
Bengal the local form of thatched house roof and temple dome 
with convex curvature was adapted for the same purpose. 
Havell adds that this modified type of temple-building passed to 
China with the Buddhist religion . 

It is interesting to note that all the secular edifices of the 
Newars as well as the characteristic religious temples are in this 
style. Also, in spite of Hamilton, the fact remains that the style 
appeared to Kirkpatrick to be strikingly similar to the “wooden 
mundups” of India. From the pictures given in the different 
books, it is clear that a one-storeyed building in the Newar style 
and a modern mandap or aichald of India differ very little. The 
discussion of the ancient Indian forms of mandaps and dwelling 
houses by Havell strengthens this view. 

The materials employed in the buildings of Nepal also point 
to their connection with India, and not with Tibet on the othei 
side of the border. The Newar houses are generally of brick, 
the roofs always of tiles which, according to Purna-cliandra 
Mukhopadhyay, of the Archaeological Survey, are similar to the 
tiles dug out at Pataliputra. In Tibet, on the other hand, the 
houses are generally and necessarily made of stones held together 
with mud, the manufacture of bricks and tiles being out of the 
question there, owing to scarcity of fuel. 

Whether the pagoda style followed the line of evolution 
suggested by Havell or not, the balance of evidence is in favour 
of an Indian origin (in the limited sense of earlier existence) of a 
prototype of the pagoda style. There has of course been 
interchange of ideas in this, as in other matters, between China 
and Nepal ; but the architecture would seem to be essentially 
Indian.* Such a conclusion is in harmony with the hypothesis 
formulated from the other data that the main elements of the 
characteristic early culture of the Newars came from India. 

— _______ 4 

*Cf. paragraph on Architecture in Prof. Liang Chi Chao’s article on ‘‘China’s 
debt to India,” published in this number. — Ed, 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 

By Rabindranath Tagore. 


The creature which lives its life, screened und sheltered in 
a dark cave, finds its safety in the very narrowness of its 
environment; and the economical providen:e of nature curtails 
and tones down its sensibilities to such limited necessity. But 
if those cave- walls are removed by some cataclysm, then either 
it must accept the doom of extinction, or carry on satisfactory 
ne gotiati ons with its wider surroundings. 

I* T he human races will never again be able to go back to their 
citadels of high-walled exclusiveness. They have been exposed 
to each other, physically and intellectually. The shells, which 
have so long given them full security within their individual 
enclosures, have been broken, and by no artificial process can 
they be mended again. So we have to accept this fact, even 
though we have not yet fully adapted our minds to this changed 
environment of publicity, even though through it we may have 
to run Jill the risks entailed by the wider expansion of life’s 
freedom. 


A large part of our tradition is our code of adjustment which 
deals with the circumstances special to ourselves. These tradi- 
tions, no doubt, variegate the several racial personalities with 
their distinctive colours, — colours which have their poetry and 
also certain protective qualities suitable to each different environ- 
ment. We may come to acquire a strong love for our own colour- 
ful race speciality, but if that gives us fitness only for a very 
narrow world then, at the slightest variation in our circumstances, 
we may have to pay for this love with our life itself. 

In the animal world there are numerous instances of complete 
race-suicide overtaking those who fondly clung to some advantage 
which later on became a hindrance in an altered dispensation . In 
fact the superiority of man is proved by his adaptability to extreme 



S>8o 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 


surprises of chance, — neither the torrid nor the frigid zone of his 
destiny offering him insuperable obstacles. 

There are some kinds of mental peculiarity which tend to fall 
more under pathology than psychology, that is to say, which have 
no universal significance. Such peculiarities are inoffensive so 
so long as they keep to their own boundaries, but when carried 
outside, they either hurt those who possess them, or the others 
who are confronted by them, or perhaps ultimately both. For 
directly they come out of the environment of their origin they 
have to be judged by some universal standard of behaviour, by 
the moral standard which has the universal character of truth. 

A man, with an abnormal appetite for acquisition, may be 
appreciated by his wife and other dear ones ; but when this appetite 
of his is brought out in dealings with his neighbours, then the 
standard of conduct which is exclusively that of his own family 
circle will no longer serve. The religion, which makes it 
obligatory for a ihug to strangle his fellow creatures must, for 
its true judgment, come under moral principles which do not 
peculiarly belong to his own community. 


What I want to make clear is the fact that when, as in the 
present age, the human races have come out of their traditional 
reservation -fence into mutual contact, the reliance on a universal 
ethical standard is the only means which can save humanity from 
disruption into barbarism or death. 

The late war which involved a vast number of peoples in its 
carnage and whose economic and moral consequence is even now 
troubling the atmosphere of a great part of the world, is merely 
an indication that in the hurry of the scientific progress of the 
West, which has made the human world physically almost one 
country, the cultivation of ethical ideals needful for this condi- 
tion has been overlooked. 

It has come as a great surprise on the races of man, — this 
sudden change from a life of comparative seclusion to that of 
mutual proximity, and will test to the full their moral adaptability. 
The peculiar qualities which gave special advantage to some of 



October, 1924] NOTES AND COMMENTS 281 

them in former days may, in order to save those very people, have 
to give place to others of an opposite kind. 

It is difficult for ns to realise this, because the sunset clouds 
of the past, under their golden flourishes and blood-red magni- 
ficence, conceal approaching doom, and people are still talking in 
a language which hardly takes count of the impending night. 

When we in Asia talk about re-adjusiment in response to the 
world situation today, we forget that it should be directed to a 
future of new ideals and net to the mere shifting about of the 
methods of a past which is already declared nearly bankrupt. 
Therefore our dreams still bristle with the image of raised swords, 
darken with the vision of poison gas, glisten with gold streaks 
that are but the harbingers of death-dealing thunder-clouds. 

Of course I know, from the point of view of prudence and 
practical politics, that a sudden and a complete change may not 
be possible, or may even be considered dangerous, and so the 
weapons of the past have yet to be used till they slip off our hands 
by the very absurdity of their anachronism. And is not their 
weight already proving too heavy, turning the living skin of man 
into an impervious sheath, his whole constitution into an iron 
safe ? Is it not for the people the rigor of death itself, — this pro- 
gressive stiffening of their muscles and hardening of their hearts ? 


In man, whose existence is not merely biological, the process 
of death first begins in his spiritual system and then it creeps into 
the other departments of his life. This has been the case with all 
the great civilisations that flourished for a period, and died when 
their spirit decayed. The continual dwindling in the proportion 
of food for our moral and spi ritual nature has not troubled the 
political leaders of the present age, not even the scientific philo- 
sophers who are busy analysing the component parts of what is , 
and think it old-fashioned to bring into view a synthetic vision of 
what should be. The vastness of the race problem with which we 
are faced to-day will either compel us to train ourselves to moral 
fitness, in the place of merely external efficiency, or the complica- 
tions arising out of it will fetter all our movements and drag us to 
our death. 



282 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 


When our necessity becomes urgently insistent, when the 
resources that have sustained us so long are exhausted, then 
our spirit puts forth all its force to discover some other source of 
sustenance, deeper and more permanent. This leads us from the 
exterior to the interior of our storehouse. When muscle does not 
fully serve us, we come to awaken intellect to ask for its help and 
are then surprised to find that is a greater source of strength for 
us than our physical power. When, in their turn, our intellectual 
gifts grow perverse, and only help to render our suicide gorgeous 
and exhaustive, our soul must seek an alliance with some power 
which is still deeper, yet further removed from the rude stupidity 
of muscle. 


In the present age the human races have come close together. 
Their differences in language, tradition and degree of strength 
are so apparent, as to be a commonplace. Our first meeting has 
only recognised these differences, and in the place of geographical 
barriers it has thereupon set up the barriers of mutual mis- 
understanding. 

Even the religious ministers, sent by the West to the East, 
whose profession it is to preach brotherly love, have in their 
sectarian pride and prudence, emphasised and exaggerated these 
differences more than any other body of men. They have 
produced the psychology which makes it comfortably easy for the 
military and the mercantile powers of their community to carry 
on their mission of depredation in alien countries helplessly open 
to their inroads. 

This consciousness of difference has poisoned our literature, 
our history and philosophy and the eduation of our children, — it 
has invaded the frontier line of science where it touches sociology. 
The cultivation of intense race egotism is the one. thing that has 
found its fullest scope at this meeting of men. In no period of 
human history has there been such an epidemic of moral 
perversity, such a universal churning up of jealousy, greed, 
hatred, and mutual suspicion. Every people, weak or strong, is 
constantly indulging in a violent dream of rendering itself 
thoroughly hurtful to others. In this galloping competition of 



October, 1924] 


NOTES AND COMMENTS 


283 


hurtfulness, on the slope of a bottomless pit, no nation dares to 
stop or slow down. A scarlet fever with a raging temperature 
has attacked the entire body of mankind, and political passion has 
taken the place of creative personality in all departments of life. 


"It is well-kncwn that when greed has for its object material 
gain 'then it can have no end . It is like the chasing of the horizon 
by a lunatic. To go on in a competition of multiplying millions 
is a steeplechase of insensate futility, that has obstacles, but no 
goal. It has for its parallel the fight with material weapons, 
weapons which must perpetually be multiplied, opening up new 
vistas of destruction, and evoking new forms of insanity in the 
forging of fiightfulneps. | Thus seems to have commenced the 
last fatal adventure of cfrunken Passion riding on an intellect of 
prodigious power. 

When the condition of the world is so desperate, it will not 
in the least help if we in the East also join in this stampede 
towards a general annihilation We must discover our salvation 
in some other power that has its basis upon sanity, and this 
power is moral. On its positive side it will work in the direction 
of unity, cultivating the spirit of sympathy and co-operation. On 
its negative side it will actively resist the aggression of evil by 
the moral weapon of complete ostracism, just as we exercise it in 
its physical form in the case of a fatal disease which is contagious. 
It will translate fight from its present depth of brutality to the 
moral altitude which belongs to the human. Through this, 
society will get rid of fighting as a definite profession. 

The division between those who waste their life in cultivating 
the art of killing and those who labour to sustain them must be 
removed, and the full flow of humanity through our social 
organism must not be obstructed. That is to say, antagonism and 
reconciliation, acceptance and rejection, which taken together are 
the constant and natural features of life, must not be separated 
into technical departments, but, through moral tradition and 
training, be allowed to function over the whole of society. The 
development of intellectual and moral sympathy for one’s fellow- 



284 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


beings, the spirit of service and sacrifice, and the dauntless 
attitude of refusal towards evil of all kinds in the face of danger 
and death, must every where form the principal part of education. 

Material force has its power in the physical blows it can inflict 
and therefore emulation goes on endlessly augmenting the means 
of dealing such blows. It can only come to a natural stop when 
man asserts the dignity of his spirit and says : “I am not afraid.” 
In our weakness we maintain a material power which dominates 
us ; the power which is spiritual dwells in our strength, in our fear- 
lessness, fortitude and spirit of sacrifice. 

To-day, more than ever before in our history, the aid of this 
spiritual power is needed and therefore I believe its resources will 
surely be discovered in the hidden depth of our being. Pioneers 
will come to take up this adventure and suffer, and through suffer- 
ing open out a path to that higher elevation of life in which lies 
our safety. 


Let me, in reference to this, give an instance from the 
history of Ancient India. 

There was a noble period in the early days of India when, to 
a band of dreamers, agriculture appeared as a great idea and not 
merely a useful fact. The heroic personality of Rainachandra, 
who espoused its cause, was sung in popular ballads, which in a 
later age forgot their original message and were crystallized into 
an epic merely extolling some domestic virtues of its hero. 
However, it is quite evident, from the legendary relics still 
embedded in the story, that a new age ushered in by the spread 
of agriculture came as a divine voice to those who could hear. It 
lifted up the primeval screen of the wilderness, brought the distant 
near, and broke down all barricades. Men who had formed 
separate and antagonistic groups in their sheltered seclusions, 
were called upon to form a united people. 

In the Vedic verses, we find constant mention of conflicts 
betweer the original inhabitants of this land and the colonists. 
There we find the expression of a spirit that was of mutual distrust 
and a struggle in which was sought either wholesale slavery or 



October, 1924] NOTES AND COMMENTS 285 

extermination for the opponents, in the spirit of animals who hve 
in the narrow segregation imposed upon them by their limited 
imagination and imperfect sympathy. This spirit would have 
continued in all its ferocious vigour of savagery had men failed 
to find the opportunity for the discovery that man’s highest truth 
was in the union of co-operation and love. 

The progress of agriculture was the first external step which 
led to such a discovery. It not only made a settled life possible 
for a large number of men living in close proximity, but it claimed 
for its very purpose a life of peaceful co-operation, lhe mere 
fact of such a sudden change from a nomadic to an agricultural 
condition would not have benefited man, if he had not developed 
therewith, for the guidance of his conduct, some inner principle 
of truth. We can realise, from our reading of the Ramayana, 
the birth of idealism among a section of the Indian colonists of 
those days, before whose mind’s eye was opened a vision of 
emancipation rich with the responsibility of a highei life. The 
epic represents in its ideal the change of the people s aspiration 
from the path of conquest to that of reconciliation. 


In the present time, as I have said, the human world has 
been overtaken by another vast change similar to that which had 
occurred in the epic age of India. So long, men had beeii^cultivat- 
ing, almost with a religious fervour, that mentality which is the 
product of racial isolation ; poets sang, in a loud pitch of bragging, 
of the exploits of their popular fighters ; money-makers neithet 
felt pity nor shame in the unscrupulous dexterity of their pocket- 
picking ; and diplomats scattered lies in order to reap concessions 
from the devastated future of their victims. Suddenly the walls 
that separated the different races are seen to have given way, and 
we find ourselves standing face to face. 

This is a great fact of epic significance. Man, suckled at 
the wolf’s breast, sheltered in the brute’s den, brought up in the 
prowling habit of depredation, suddenly discovers that he is Man, 
and that his true power lies in yielding up his brute power for the 
freedom of spirit. 



286 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 


There are a few great countries, — China is among them and 
also Japan, — that have found their civilisation from the soil of 
nature, the mother who taught them the lesson of life, the music 
of which, flowing in the blood of their children, revealed itself in 
a vast symphony of human relationship. 

They have loved Mother Nature’s rivers and hills, they have 
fed their eyes upon the blue of her sky and the tender green of 
her corn shoots, they have enjoyed the dance of the invisible 
rhythm in all the forms and colours with which she surrounds 
them ; they have known that the subtle intricacies of human 
existence find their perfect unity in the harmony of interdepen- 
dence, never in the vigorous exercise of elbows in the midst of a 
mutually pushing multitude, clamouring for a solitary peak of 
self-determination ; they have never indulged in the arrogant 
assertion of independence which only belongs to the barren rocks 
and to the desert wastes grey with the pallor of death. 

This spirit of interdependence is the spirit of meekness in 
life which gives it the unseen and inexhaustible strength to 
inherit the earth that we find in the green grass whose banners of 
conquest are humble and yet ever victorious. Therefore I would 
bring to you the cry of this New Age which is waiting to close 
dhe blood-stained pages of its past and to hear the epic that will 
voice its hope in a great song. 


T am afraid, however, you will find it difficult to put faith in 
a poet’s dream. I can guess how disappointed you must feel at 
not hearing anything from me of a practical nature. There is a 
proverb in Sanskrit that you must not expect fruits from a sugar 
cane. As a poet I can only have my vision. It may not be as 
useful as, say, your fishing rod, but it may produce the same 
effect as the spring breeze. Very JsM^p ra . i . m pft rta afce 

mere ly to attract your eyes tqwS|^|,t^padx rather, tbap encumber 
your back with a ladder. That ladder appears so substantially 
practical that, in the joy of its possession, one often forgets to 
enquire if there is any height to be scaled . 



October, 1924] 


NOTES AND COMMENTS 


287 


I would only remind you that the new age has brought a new 
King, and only those who have the imagination to see the New 
Coiner, and the loyal sympathy to receive Him in a proper 
manner, will find his own true place. 

So long we have been serving our triba 1 idol. We have not 
yet awakened to the fact that the tribe ftas become a shadow, that 
its temple has come down to the dust, and that the idol lies 
shattered. It will be a piece of wasteful foil}' to imagine that we 
can still propitiate it with the blood of human victims and with 
food plundered from the famished. 

The God of Humanity has arrived at the gates of the ruined 
temple of the tribe. Though He has not yet found His altar, I 
ask the men of simple faith, wherever they may be in the world, 
to bring their offering of sacrifice to Him, and to believe that it 
is far better to be wise and worshipful, than to be clever and 
supercilious ; I ask them to claim their right of manhood to be 
friends of men, and not their right of a particular proud race who 
may boast of the fatal quality of being the rulers of men. We 
should know for certain that rulers will no longer be tolerated in 
the new world, as it basks in the open sunlight of mind and 
breathes life’s free air. 


In the geological age of the infant earth the demons of 
physical force had their full sway. The angry fire, the devouring 
flood, the fury of the storm, continually kicked the earth into 
frightful distortions. These titans have at last given way to the 
reign of life. Had there been spectators in those days, who were 
clever and practical, they would have wagered their last penny on 
these titans and would have waxed hilariously witty at the expense 
of the helpless living speck taking its stand in the arena of the 
wrestling giants. Only a dreamer could have then declared with 
unwavering conviction that those titans were doomed because of 
their very exaggeration, as are, to-day those formidable qualities 
which, in the parlance of school-boy science, are termed Nordic. 


10 



288 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


I ask you, once again, let us, the dreamers of the East and 
the West, keep our faith firm in the Life that creates and not in 
the Machine that constructs, — in the power that hides its force 
and blossoms in beauty, and not in the power that bares its arms 
and chuckles at its capacity to make itself obnoxious. Let us 
know that the Machine is good when it helps, but not so when it 
exploits life ; that Science is great when it destroys evil, but not 
when the two enter into unholy alliance. 


Before I conclude I ask your leave to say that I believe in 
the individuals in the West ; for on no account can I afford to lose 
my faith in Man. They also dream, they love, they intensely 
feel pain and shame at the unholy rites of demon worship that tax 
the whole world for their supply of bleeding hearts. They cherish 
in their minds the creative faith that by its magic secretly fashions 
the images of a perfect expectation in the midst of the boisterous 
dissipations of unbelief. 

In the life of these individuals will be wedded East and 
West; their lamps of sacrifice will burn through the stormy 
night along the great pilgrim tract of the future, when the names 
of the statesmen who tighten their noose round the necks of the 
foreign races will be derided and the triumphal tower of skulls 
heaped up in memory of war-lords will have crumbled into dust. 



VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN. 

i. 

Conversation between Rabindranath Tagore and Governor Yen, 
of Shansi, China. 

(Reported). 

G. I heard of your name many years aeo, and was delighted when 
I knew that you were coming here to visit my province. 

T. I was greatly honoured by your invitation and I shall always 
remember your kindness. 

G. The teachers and students have been longing for you to come 
here. 

T. I had heard much, fiom my friend Mr. E., about this province 
and I have been full of admiration for its administration, which I understand 
is so wise and helpful. I also heard by chance some thoughts that had 
been expressed by Your Excellency about our modern problems which 
seemed to me to be very suggestive, so that I was happy that this meeting 
could be arranged. 

G. When Mr. E. came last year I had a talk with him about your 
institution and I admired very much what I heard about your work. 

T. In these critical times, when the old order is giving way to the 
new, no standard of efficiency has yet been evolved. At a period when so 
much corruption is abroad, a Governor with farsighted wisdom, who is 
able to make his province an object lesson to all other provinces, is doing 
great work, 

G. This is but the duty of any officer, I have no anxiety for results, 
I am only trying to do my best. 

T. That is an ideal of the East, not to, look for results but to take 
up one’s duty. The Gita expresses this thought when it says you have 
only your right in the doing of your work and not in its fruits. 

G. I agree with what you have said about our two countries. Between 
India and China the best of relations existed long ago. At this time we 
need that these relations should be deeper and more profound than ever. 

T. When I had my invitation to China, from my friends in Peking, 



290 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [K attic, 133 * 


T was greatly delighted. I felt it was a great opportunity for me to renew 
this deeper spiritual relationship which was, as Your Excellency says, 
established long ago. Though I am old, and no longer strong, I accepted 
it with great joy. Already, from the results, I see that this acceptance 
was fortunate ; and that possibly this visit may be fruitful for Asia, if India 
and China can join hands, not to further any political ambitions, but to 
build up a great civilisation of ideals. 

G. I quite agree with you. 

T. It is a sad thing that the times have changed. India, when she 
came to China, was at the zenith of her civilisation, in the fulness and 
plenitude of her power. Now our people have degenerated and that ancient 
stream of idealism no longer flows over Asia, — it has been driven deeply 
underground. It is the same in China. A disruption of life, a process of 
social destruction, has been going on; and what we should try to do is 
to work together for giving new hope and new strength to the people who 
have lost faith in ideals and who are merely repeating the habit of the 
past and not producing anything, nor adapting their thought to this new 
age. This is what has made us suffer so much. When society is living it 
can adapt itself to new conditions, but when it is dead it merely copies its 
own past and cannot build its future. This has happened both to India and 
China and this is what we must change. 

G. I quite agree that degeneration is going on, and I am sure that the 
fault of this degeneracy lies in our own selves. We have permitted it, and 
it is for us to rebuild. 

T. Wisdom in the East has demanded that the living soul of man 
should dwell in the whole of society, that society should be dominated 
throughout by some lining spiritual ideal and not that one part of society 
should have all the power in its keep. This power should be evenly distribut- 
ed among the people. Our social system depended upon mutual obligation, 
upon ethical ideals accepted by all the people. In the West political life is con- 
centrated in a particular group of men or in some machine, and its obliga- 
tions are borne by some special group. For this reason the moment that 
the political life is threatened the whole life is threatened. In the East 
whilst the military and the ambitious men fought their battles the people 
as a whole remained unmolested and therefore their civilisation survived 
for centuries and is still living. The time has come to renew the life of the 
people, who must learn to look after their own affairs. There must be a 
living adjustment and a new current of vitality, — a new stream of ideals must 



October , 1924] 


VISVA-BI1AKATI BULLETIN 


291 


supply the people with a living purpose. This cannot be done by organisa- 
tion, by some mere machine that can be put into the hands of some single 
individual, as in the West. 

G. You have not said yet what method must oe employed to rebuild 
the whole of civilisation, or to do away with this Western idea of 
organisation. 

T. I do not want merely to indicate the id^al, in words. We have 
started this work in our own neighbourhood in India, — the reconstruction 
of village life. Our people had come to a point where they were merely 
carrying on their life in a feeble manner, anyhow. They had lost their 
zest in life since toil was heaped upon roil whilst the fruits went to others 
who were cleverer. It is our idea to strengthen their life, to stimulate 
their intelligence, and to bring some joy into their existence. The people 
of the country will only live when their life represents the best ideals of 
the country, when it is full with music, and dance, with drama and cere- 
mony, with festival and poetry. There can be no real civilisation when 
the best ideals are concentrated in the hands of a few powerful men, whilst 
the bulk of the population has neither the leisure nor the mind to enjoy, 
and remains desolate. In order to overcome this weakness we have been 
trying to get the villagers to realise that their destiny rests in their 
own hands, that they must be able to think and to act and to gather around 
them tnose who will not look dowm upon them as inferiors but who wall 
regard them as kin. 

C. I agree with what you have said about the ideals of the East, and 
I give you one instance. The West honours inventors simply because 
of their capacity to invent, even though that invention may be purely for 
their own profit. In China only those inventors, and we have many 
instances of this, were admired who produced some good thing for society 
and not merely for their own advantage or for unsocial purposes. 

T. This has been true of all great men both in India and China. In 
their creative work they have devoted their energies to the whole people 
because they regarded their special gift as a responsibility which must be 
'dedicated to the public good. They never thought to trade on this gift 
from God for their own self aggrandisement. 

G. This is specially true in the realm of Agriculture. All over China 
we have built temples to Agriculture, and therefore it became the habit to 
admire any invention which could be made use of by all the people. I often 



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292 

have occasion to correct my friends on this point, when they express their 
admiration for some man for his method of inventing or for the way lie has 
succeeded in making money out of his invention and a name for himself. 

In regard to the reform of the village I entirely agree with you. I feel 
very profoundly on this matter because the methods which you are using 
are exactly those which I myself have been trying to put into practice. 
Man was born to be happy and if anything stands in his way it is the duty 
of the Government or other political power to try and prevent anyone from 
interfering with a man's developing his own individuality and habits. The 
family is our unit, and if the family is happy then all arc happy. It is the 
duty of the Government to remove all barriers that prevent the achievement 
of happiness. We have an old Chinese saying that it is for the plant to 
study how to die, — that is how to develope its fruit, how to ripen it. This 
is fest assisted by leaving the plant alone, then the fruit’, having ripened, 
will duly drop off. The same is true for man. If he is left free and un- 
disturbed, if he is physically and mentally alert, and if there is nothing to 
disturb the growth within him of a refined spirit, then alone will he come 
to perfection. The Government is not responsible for bringing about this 
result, but it is the duty of the Government to do all that is possible 
to remove physical and moral disturbances so that such growth may not 
be impeded. 

T. I also believ.e it to be the duty of Government to enable people to 
remove their own obstacles and not to remove the obstacles for them. By 
removing opportunity for the use of initiative, the people are left truly 
helpless. We should give strength to the people but never take upon us 
the work which should be theirs, by keeping all power and responsibility 
in our own 'hands. A wise government will not exercise its power, but 
will allow that power to grow out of the mind and capacity of the people. T 
was glad when in China I found how little it has been the custom for the 
Government to interfere with the life of the people. This non-interference 
is best because it allows a natural wisdom to develop. Interference is too 
often only another form of that obstruction which is negative, and which 
prevents the spirit of man finding its full expression. Let all sages and 
great men, all well-wishers of the people, help the people to discover their 
own inner light within them and never offer them that light from outside. 

G. 1 entirely agree with you that each individual should be free to 
develop his own ideals. But the difficulty here is that the condition of the 
people is quite different from what it used to be. There was a time when 



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the strong, the clever and the rich wanted to benefit others; now they only 
want to interfere with the benefit of thers. The rich man wants to take 
advantage of everybody else. We must find some means of preventing 
injustice being done to the people, and this responsibility must rest upon 
the Government. 

T. Government may at any time be either good or bad. We cannot 
depend upon its uniformity of goodness, and though, you, as Governor, 
may have every good intention, and may want to help your people, your 
successor may upset everything and introduce chaos. If the people are 
solely dependant upon the sympathy 01 help of some person who temporarily 
holds sway, then their situation is precarious. If, before you retire, you 
can somehow infuse power into their own bands, it you can distribute it 
and let them realise that it is for them to help themselves, then when you 
are no longer with them they may stand upon their o\vn legs. Then your 
work may continue, <aven through the people themselves. If you once 
begin to depend upon organisation or machinery, it will always be captured 
by men of ambition and will be used by self-seekers for tlieir own ends 
There are but *ew men of your type who may be trusted to use the 
machinery for the benefit of the people. 

G. It is for the Government to do justice to the people, but with 
regard to Shansi, I agree that political power is not the force which is 
capable of doing justice. Nor is any other powder able to deliver justice un- 
less there is justice among the people themselves. Everything depends 
upon the individuality of the people. Justice is after all the duty of every- 
body, and the people must have this sense of justice among themselves. 

T. 1 have come, Your Excellency, to propose to you some way of 
blending our ideals so that some great civilisation may again be the out- 
come of this meeting of the ideals of India with those of China. 
The inspiration that is aroused out o.f the union of our hearts is even now 
working in the depth of our being, and though we are lacking in so many 
respects in India yet we also can combine with you in giving this ideal a 
practical shape. 

Unless the whole people is happy no individual can have true happi- 
ness. Unless all are wealthy no man, however rich, can have real wealth. 
The Sun does common service for us all. If however in the night only my 
lamp is lit and the rest of the world is dark, that lamp has no 
real illumination for me. This ideal is waiting for our acceptance. 
The multi-millionaire possesses power in his own hands and raises his tower 



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THE V1SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ K attic , 1331 


of strength at the expense of the world. But I want to give the people the 
responsibility for their own destiny, so that through their self-respect they 
may help themselves. In this let us work together. I have been asking 
Mr. E. to come with some members of his staff to take up some such work 
in China, just as I hope the day will come when you will send men to help 
us. I feel that India did once send of her best to China, and once more she 
must come both to learn and to give. I shall ask your co-operation in return. 
There must be some practical work in which we should be able to help you, 
and you us, so that literally we may join hands. 

G. Is there anything that I can do? 

T. I have already occupied too much of your time to talk over details 
with Your Excellency. I ask you to discuss these with Mr. E. I shall only 
be too glad if you can do everything possible to help him in his w 7 ork 
of discovering how the villages may really be helped to regain that rich- 
ness of life which they once possessed. 

G. This was 1113^ own idea. The present material civilisation has 
developed greatly, and if once again our moral civilisation could gain 
control of the material it would be so much the better for all of us. These 
two aspects of our life must travel along together in harmony and must not 
be arrayed against one another. 

T. True. I quite agree. If there is no moral basis, mere material 
foundations cannot maintain prosperity for long. Like the tree on thin soil, 
we shall die of exhaustion. On the other hands moral civilisation cannot 
be good and final in itself, it can only be healthy when it makes it possible 
for material civilisation to attain its highest purpose. 

G. I welcome your ideal and shall hope in return to send to you some 
men from this province. I hope that you will be able to extend your work 
in India and that I may assist it in China. 

T. I depart then with the hope that you will make it possible for us to 
help in this work, the work of building up the life of the soil, and through this 
spirit of mutual sympathy and co-operation help us to exchange friends and 
students. It will be a beautiful sight when Indians come to your Chinese 
villages and Chinese come to our Indian villages, not in order that they may 
get rich, but to work together as brothers. It' is a great work to produce life 
together, to come down from our conventional altitude to the soil, not to 
acquire there learning or science but to find inspiration, to unite in helping 
to produce the material and spiritual necessities of life. Let it be known that 
it is only through the amelioration of the lot of all individuals in all countries, 



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that real progress can come. Please accept this ideal not merely for your 
own people in this particular province but as a service to humanity. People 
who remain in darkness are being exploited ~nd this is becoming a problem 
for which the whole world is responsible. So long as men are willing to 
suck the life of humanity to swell up * heir own wealth and power, humanity 
will go down to its examination. Together we must work against this. 
Can we not as friends work together in memory of our great friendship of 
the past. I feel drawn to your pcopL and if Li any way I can be of help 
to them I shall be only too glad. 


II 

Rabindranath’s Answers to Questions by the Students 0? Tsing Hua College. 

(Repot led). 

Q. What is your conception of God? 

A. Our conception of God is different from that of the Christians. 
It is both immanent and transcendant. The New Testament idea, that of 
Christ, has little in common with that of the Jew, for whom God was 
both jealous and exclusive. But Christ’s idea has something in common 
with the idea of the East and of India, the idea of God as related 
to human beings, in bonds of love, as Father, Friend and Lover. His 
meaning was that God was related to us in a spiritual relationship of love 
and this spiritual relationship you may look on as that of a father to his 
children, or of friend to friend, or of lover to lover. But this is immaterial 
The important idea is, that human beings are related to an Infinite Person, 
that they are not like so much drift-wood, that they have a personal root 
in an Infinte Personality, which we name God. 

But you ask further: “How do you know there is a God?” 

^This is a difficult question. Let me answer acc ording to my own light. 
fThis physical world you know because you have eyesight, you can recognise 
because you have appropriate sense organs. Thereby your physical 
organism is in intimate relation with something big and permanent,' this 
world. If your physical organism had no such background it would be a 
bubble, a nothing. ^Your very blood too has elements in common with the 
streams and rivers. is the same with all the particles of your body, cells, 

T I 



*9 6 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 

atoms and molecules^ You know therefore that the realisation of your 
physical organism depends upon the realisation of this great physical worlds 

But is the physical body the most important part of your self? Is it 
not a fact that your body itself gives expression to a personality in the 
centre of your life? fmy personality finds expression in my body; my eyes, 
for instance give ex^rrpSsion to that personality^- If then you have 110 doubt 
as to the reality of your physical body because it is related to some wider 
eternal reality, this physical world, and if you have a personality which 
you recognise to be more real than your physical organism, do you mean 
to say that this personality is a bubble, a may a , an illusion, that it has no 
significance? 

Your eyes grope for light in a dark room. You are miserable because 
you cannot see. So our personality seeks its own fulfilment, its reality, 
where it can have its freedom, — seeks it in other personalities, in friends. 
This personality not only seeks other human personalities, but it is always 
changing. Our friends may become enemies. There is death. So my 
personality needs the assurance of reality just as much as my body does. 
That is why it craves the touch of some Infinite Personality. To this 
infinite personality I give the name God. 

Q. What is this relation of God to Man? 

A. As my physical body has its physical relationship, so my personality 
has its personal relationship. You have to breath air, you are standing 
upon the floor. These things we have in common. But our personality 
has qualities which are different, which are not physical qualities. It finds 
its highest joy in the life of love, in father, in friend, in wife, in other 
human beings. It seeks reality in union with other personalities, and when 
it realises perfect unity then it is glad. 

In this unity our personality finds truth. And, in order that its 
craving for such truth may be satisfied, there must be a foundation of 
unity somewhere in which we can find permanent shelter, and be happy. 
Argument does not help us here, but men in this world have procured 
direct evidence of God in their own personality ; they have received, in what 
they call the soul, the infinite touch of an infinte personality. Supposing 
you are blind and I have eyesight and I describe light to you, but you do 
not believe in it. You will say it is all a hallucination. You may even 
say that only the blind are wise because they do not see. Maybe from the 
point of view of the blind you will be right. In the same way, all the 
evidence from men of spiritual vision, goes to shew that in the centre of our 



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existence is this infinite personality, and because our own personality is 
related to this infinite personality in a bond of love which is not merely 
physical, so man is related to God. 

Q. Is it then a privilege to live? 

A. I have enjoyed human relationships, I have enjoyed the sunrise. 
Poverty and Disease there are; they conic and they disappear, but no one 
can take away from you light and beaut, . If you had to buy sunlight in 
the market place you would have gone destitute to get it. We are the guests 
of a great King who i c lavish in his hospitably Enjoy it therefore if you 
have the power to cnjcgjl, You are a miserable creature if you have not, 
and can only spend all your time preparing for examinations. 

Q. What then is Sin? 

A. Sin according to our Indian idea, has never been the breaking of 
a commandment, or of a law, or of some criminal code, which can be 
punished by king, or government. We sny that the end of human life is 
to find emancipation from self, in order to realise communion with God, 
with the Infinite Soul. Such communication is possible through the realisa- 
tion in love of our own soul through all souls. 

Buddhism has its two aspects. On the one side, emancipation from 
the grip of self. This is negative. The positive aspect is in love of the 
Infinite, love of all creatures, because through that you gain truth. 
Obstruction lies in the imprisonment of life, of the .soul. When we break 
through the prison wall of self we find freedom to communicate, to come 
into touch with this infinite being. 

Sin is that which obstructs us in gaining our ultimate end the realisation 
of the supremacy of truth through love. Passion, hatred and desire are 
great hindrances, for they accentuate the life of self. But the one great 
faculty of the soul is sympathy or love, which transcends the boundaries 
of self. Through love you come into intimate touch with others. Through 
love you enter the All. Therefore love is the one medium which gives 
you access to the great unity of soul ; so that all passions which prevent 
the pursuit of this love, this sympathy, are sins. Through killing a man 
for instance, this truth of unity is clouded. In India we have similarly 
included the killing of animals and have advocated “ahimsa,” or “non- 
killing”. If you deliberately kill an animal for selfish purposes it is a sin, 
as it is a sin, for the sake of mere sport, to shoot a bird. What about 
shooting a tiger? — you will ask. Though I am almost a Buddhist I draw 
the line there. To save other lives I would Be willing to kill a tiger, for I 



298 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 1331 


should be killing the spirit of violence which is objective in the tiger, and 
which would be subjective in my passion. Love is the goal, freedom is the 
means. That which keeps us in the prison-house of self, in our own 
separateness, is sin. 


III. 

Oriental Studies in Italy. 

(Extract from an article by Prof. G. Tucci). 

Translated by Sm . F elicit a Chaudhuri . 

It is not difficult to explain how it is that the Orientals throughout 
have till now almost completely ignored us, especially when one thinks of 
the small headway made by the Italian language in the Orient. Consequent- 
ly it came as a real revelation to ns when some of the best young intellects 
of modern India, — for example : Dr. Kalidas Nag f already favourably 
known in the intellectual circles of Europe for his admirable endeavours 
to cnligten us Occidentals abour the essential and characteristic aspect of 
contemporary Indian thought ; Suniti Kumar Chatterji, professor of 
Philology at the University of Calcutta, who combines with the severe learn- 
ing of the man of .science the geniality of the artist; Dr. Vaidya professor 
of Sanskrit and Pali in the Sangli College of Poona, from whom we have 
now got a very good study of Madhyamika , — have all come to Europe with 
the aim of perfecting themselves in the method of scientific reserch and of 
taking the doctor’s degree in France or Germany. O11 their way back 
home, they stayed amongst us in Italy, and by personally approaching our 
Oriental scholars they have been able to convince themselves that our 
scientific contributions, if few in number, are of an indisputable value, and 
that the interest which their country and their literature arouse amongst us 
is perhaps much more sincere than that of our colleagues on the other side 
of the Alps. 

So favourable has been the impression received by these Indian 
scholars, that none of them have gone back to their country without some 
volume or work of Suali, or Formichi, or Pavolini, or some reference noted 
from the Journal of the Italian Asiatic Society or from the Bulletin of Oriental 



October, 1924] 


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studies. It will be reallv due to them if in the intellectual circles of India 
they continue, as I trust they will, to remember Itaty, and not only to 
appreciate the little we have done in the domain of Oriental studies, but 
also to feel some interest in our literature and our language, which were 
not unknown, after aU, to the great Ttammohun Rov. It is not only these 
scholars that are at least able to read ita>ian, for recently T have had the 
rare pleasure of being asked to send Italian books to India. The knowledge 
of our language is beginning also to be diffused in their literary and artistic 
circles: Pramatha ChaucThuri, for instance, critic and essayist, one of the 
more open-minded men of Bengal, in a recent letter to me, after paying a 
tribute of high pieisc to If ilian culture, in reply to my advice to translate 
Teop.e*di into Bengali, writes : 


I know Italian just enough to i a ad prose, but I have to perspire with your poetry 
in order to enjoy it. For instance, D’Annunzio in his poetry is ati author difficult 
for m*., while bis prose cOies to me quite easily. I know Leopardi and T think 
vou are right in holding that iti form and substance lie approaches our poets more 
than any other modern writer of Europe; but he differs greatly from them as well 
There is a serenity in all Indian pessimism that we cannot find amongst your poets 
and philosophers of pessimistic tendencies. Can you imagine an Indian philosopher 
writing in the same way as Nietzsche ? Sanskrit literature is without warmth, and 
is too disciplined to be able to burst out in a lyric cry. The spirit of the Dharnui- 
shastra seems to control her. The po< f ic. genius of Leopardi, in my opinion, was too 
great to be able to be restrained by his philosophy 

This judgment demonstrates that the person who writes it has a 
sufficient knowledge of our literature and our authors while, on the other 
hand, perhaps none of us has such a knowledge of contemporary Bengali 
literature, although the names of Bankim Chandra, Tagore, Sarat Chatter jee 
have attracted the admiring attention of intellectuals throughout the whole 
world. 

I feel almost sure, that this preliminary interest roused in India, concern- 
ing Italian literature and science, will be the first step to much more fre- 
quent and intimate relations and fruitful interchanges between the two 
countries, which have got perhaps many more points of contact than is 
apparent to a superficial observer; and then it will be a noble solace and 
matter of pride to the neglected cultivators of these studies, which are 
wrongly considered foreign and regarded with indifference, to have made 
known our country for the first time to a people who, through an admir- 
able efflorescence of thought, are rapidly approaching the full maturity of 
their destiny. I believe that if this work of sympathetic approach, that has 
been initiated to-day amongst a small section of specialists, whose common 



THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


3 °° 

study urges them to keep in frequent touch with one another, could be 
continued and widened, then the day will not be far distant when we shall 
also see plenty of Indian students in our Universities, such as are found in 
the educational institutions of America, England, France and Germany. 

After all there are subjects which perhaps in no other country can be 
studied better than in Italy, — law, history of art, archaeology, philosophy, 
— all studies which Orientals seein to cultivate particularly. The sources of 
jurisprudence aie to be found amongst us, and our museums, our galleries, 
our cities, offer surroundings so exquisitely suitable for the formation of an 
artistic education, as perhaps no other country can do. While, from our 
archaeologists, Oriental students could learn not only to understand more 
closely the classical world that, from the age of Alexander, made its influence 
felt even over India, and during the Roman Empire exchanged messages 
with China; but they could moreover be trained in that severe method of 
iesearch, that technique of excavation, and that ability to find in literary 
sources the most minute sign, which enables one to solve defficult questions 
of ancient topography or to discover archaeological treasures. 

The Orient is very much in need of good archaeologists. Buddhistic 
India, — the India of the Chinese pilgrims, Fa-Hien, Huen-Tsang, I-Tsin, 
who have left us their detailed and perfect narratives of voyages, — is still 
waiting to be excavated. Mysterious China, whose soil hides artistic and 
historic treasures of inestimable value, — the tortoise-shell used for divinatory 
purposes and countersigned by ancient dynastic names, which the critic was 
inclined till a short time ago not to regard as authentic; or the tombs of 
the Han age, — which testify that this soil is nearly virgin still. The 
Siberian steppes, which if explored could perhaps open new chapters in 
Asiatic history, are untouched. It is true that the Japanese people have 
begun to send into China and into north Asia archaeological missions, but 
it is quite certain that, for the exploration especially of a prehistoric land, 
nothing is better than some six months’ attendance in the classes held by 
the professors in our museums, and a course of practical assistance in some 
of our expeditions of excavation. 

After all, it is nearly time to consider Oriental studies in another light. 
Sanskrit may have lost in the e}^es of philologist the importance it used to 
have fifty years ago ; it is no longer considered as a primitive language, but 
only as a dialect, notwithstanding that it is perhaps more than others akin 
to the Indo-European languages, which theory comparative grammer tries 
to revive. Though allied to many elements undoubtedly ancient, it 



October, 1924] 


VlSVA-BHARA'fl BULLETIN 


3°1 


contains many others altogether recent. But this does not imply that 
Sanskrit has lost its importance altojether. In the place of an inteiest pure- 
ly scientific, and in a way abstract, there is rather a substitution of another 
much more vital and immediate. I11 Sanskrit has been written the best of 
India's thoughts, — her immense literature on which stands the foundation 
of her modern culture, and which as it repeals to us the tormenting spiritual 
process, explains her soul, her aspirations, her tendencies, and the various 
aspects of her present civilisation, that to manv seem so mysterious and so 
full of secrets. The world has in a way become smaller; the distance which 
separates us from Calcutta, from Pekin and from Tokio have become 
absurdly small. 1 he Extreme Orient is no more so far out of the orbit of 
our usual route as to permit us to neglect it, as wc did half a century ago. 

So I think that it would be wise to inject new life into Oriental studies, 
considering them not only as a group of subjects for learned research, but 
also as efficaous means to diffuse amongst ourselves a more general know- 
ledge of the modern Asiatic civilisations. In order to do that, wc must 
aot confine ourselves to the study of ancient languages or to the Oriental 
classical literature, but interpret and spread also that of the modern literature 
and the literary dialects of the East. The moment lias perhaps not yet 
arrived to establish amongst us a Tibetan chair as there is in France, in 
Germany and in England, but I do not see why we could not establish iu 
Italy, and especially in Rome near the Oriental school, .which is perhaps 
one of the best in Europe for Semitic studies, an official chair for the 
literary dialects of modern India, or for Japanese. But will this be under- 
stood in a country like ours, where they do not want to acknowledge even 
the real importance of the study of European languages, which have only a 
secondary place in our University? 

Yet, there is already a tendency to bring together Orient and Occident, 
and as it happens, it is the Orientals that are coming to meet us first. It 
is a collaboration that they propose to us with their most representative men, 
first amongst whom deserves to be mentioned Rabindranath Tagore. Just 
with this object he has now founded a new movement, the Visva-bharati, 
which as is mentioned in its programme, proposes to spread the 
knowledge and effect the association of the Asiatic and European civilisa- 
tions, with the purpose of bringing one day to the light a work which will 
be fruitful of the good of all humanity. I would wish that this desire could 
also be ours, in order that our activity, besides cultivating purely technical 



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THE VI S VA-BIIAR ATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 1331 


and scientific research, should help to cement fraternal union and a sympa- 
thetic mutual understanding between the old Occident and the Orient, 
doubtless more old historically, but perhaps also more healthy and young 
in spirit. 


IV. 

Address to Rabindranath on behalf of the Jewish Community in Chiq#. 

(In the house of Mr. Kadoorie.) 

I find myself * to-night in the presence of a distinguished assembly of 
men and women who have gathered to honour one who is the light of Asia, 
Dr. Rabindranath Tagore. 

I desire here to express my sense of deep appreciation and gratitude to 
our dear host for having given me the opportunity, perhaps the only one 
in my life, of welcoming such a distinguished guest. Dr. Tagore is a man 
of rare nobility of soul, a man who has climbed to heaven and wiested for 
us some glimpse of visions which are a delight and a feast to the eye. He 
is indeed the king of Oriental Poetry. 

Our Sages of the Talmud have enjoined upon us to beware of praising 
individuals in their presence, for they have seen deep into the soul of human 
nature and knew the pain it would cause the really great, to have their 
eulogies sung before them. My feelings, however, are too strong to be 
entirely curbed even by such advice. 

T hope you will excuse my telling you here of how I first came to 
know of the poetry of our famous guest. Some years ago I wrote and 
published a book of verse entitled “The Wedding of Death”. In this book 
1 tried to bring to the mind a vision showing that fear of death should be 
overcome and that death was only the birth of another life. 

One of the critics of my book stated that he found some resemblance 
between it and the works of Dr. Tagore. This immediately aroused my 
great interest and it was in this way that I discovered a field of poetry, 
that was indeed a revelation to me. Thanks to Dr. Tagore, an inspired 
vision of a new world was put before my eyes. 

With your permission I will refer to three points to-night. 

The first, is the atmosphere created by Dr. Tagore’s Poetry — the second, 
the influence of his poetry on the present generation of the Jews, and 



October, 1924] VIS VA-BH AR ATI BULLETIN 303 

the third of his message to Oriental Nations to retain their old culture aud 
civilisation, again with special reference to the renaissance of Judaism in 
Palestine. 

To my mind I find his poetical works based on the purity, beauty and 
sanctity of life. 

It is sufficient to feel Ills delicate touch to bring one into a world filled 
with purity, beauty and sanctity. 

To read his Gitanjali is to have the universe transformed in one’s eyes 
into the temple of God. 

His conception of the Deity is not confined to a personal or national 
God, but to the uirversal Cod, who is to be found everywhere and in 
everything. 

We are mere instruments in the hand of our Creator who sounds on 
us the melodics of life, of death, of joy and of sorrow. 

To read of Dr. Tagore’s poetry is sufficient to fill one’s heart with a 
great love for all forms of life. 

To read of his songs in the morning will enable you to meet the evening 
with purity of thought and peace of soul. 

The greatness of Tagore is not due to the heights of beauty which 
dwell in him, or to the sweetness oi the music and rhythm contained in his 
songs. It is due to the holy atmosphere which you find throughout liis 
verses. In these you will find not only an aesthetic joy, but also a nobility 
of outlook on life. You will find yourself in the presence of a modern 
Psalmist who draws the same spiritual music as David drew when he played 
upon the harp. 

I felt this resemblance to the Psalms especially when I read Tagore’s 
Gitanjali which was translated into Hebrew by the famous David irishman. 
1 feel that in translating this book from Bengali to Hebrew, that is, 
from one oriental language to another, it has retained the soul that was in 
the original work. 

It is no uncommon sight to see many of our Hebrew pioneers in 
Palestine who break stones in the streets, drain the marshes, build bridges 
and construct houses during the day, retire after sunset, and read either of 
our poet Bialik, or of the songs of Tagore. 

Iiis work has brought home to many the gems to be found in the 
Literature of the Orient ; and has returned to many, the thoughts and ideas 
that have been lost to them through long contact with foreign civilisations. 

One moonlight night while walking on the hills in Jerusalem a great 


12 



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THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Kartic, 133L 


Hebrew writer said to me “ I wonder if you have realized how near Tagore’s 
poetry is to ours and how justified is his call to return to the mentality as 
expressed by our prophets of old. Is not the poetry of Bialic and the 
theory of Aham H’Am a call to the young generation of Israel to return 
to the spirit of old, and is not this the aim of Zionism?” 

In speaking of this, my third point, I am encouraged by having read 
an article in Dr. Tagore’s Review stating his sympathy with this cause. 
It is a fallacy to suppose that Zionism is based upon materialism and 
not idealism. The aims of Zionism are twofold, namely, the return to 
Jewish culture, and a Jewish land. 

Herzl, the creator of modern Zionism said at the first Zionist Congress 
that the return to Zion must be preceded by a return to Judaism. That is 
the tragedy of our generation. Our weakness manifests itself when we 
disregard our own vineyard. 

As Bialik has said : 

1 look forward to Palestine, because there, in sacred labor, we shall find unity, 
the land is still poor, and many and heavy must be the sacrifices that are needed to 
develop it. But “ better is a piece of dry bread eaten in peace than plenty in a 
house which is filled with quarreling. ” Till now we have worked here in exile, and 
cur work — I may say it without boasting— lias been fruitful. But still more fruitful 
must be the work which we shall now begin in Palestine. 

It is characteristic of the Jewish spirit that Dr. Weizmann, the great 
Jewish statesman, has laid the foundation of the Hebrew University, a 
spiritual centre for Judaism. He tells of his ideate in the following words 
uttered in a speech in New York : 

Even on this day we are still looking for miracles, but reality is infinitely more 
miraculous than legendary miracles. This modest little University of which the 
foundation stone was laid in 1918, to the sound of guns, within ten miles of the 
front, this little University is being erected on Mount Scopus, one of the hills which 
overlook Jerusalem. On this very mountain, thousands of years ago, stood the 
tent of Titus, and before that tent were led the prisoners out of Jerusalem into 
captivity. Over this very hill on which to-day stand the first institutes of the future 
University, passed our judges, our kings, our prophets, our young children and our 
young soldiers— into captivity and oblivion. Great Rome had proclaimed " Judaea 
capta, Judaea is finished,” and the mighty Roman state swept over little Judaea. 
Of Titus nothing is left but a marble arch which is the admiration of tourists in 
Rome, but Judaea Capta lives again, and from this very hill a new siege will be 
directed against Jerusalem, not with guns and not with stones and not Roman legions 
but with vscience and with art and with social justice : Ki beti bet tefila yikore Fchol 
ha»amifn. And that is a miracle which should inspire not only those who build the 
University but all those who contribute toward this building. It will be a source of 
pride and strength and encouragement to you, to your children and to your children’s 
children until the end of all time. 



October , 1924] VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN 305 

Tlie Talmud says that Israel did not aspire to be freed and come back to 
their own country in order to domi late others, but in order to find a haven 
of refuge to develop their spiritual life without let or hindrance. In fact, 
our aspirations to return to Palestine are in order to accomplish there that 
which we are unable to do here. We wish to revive our language, our 
country, our institutions, our schools, our agriculture, our Jewish soul and 
prophetic ideals. 

We hope to be able to demonstrate before the world w r hat a Jewish 
liberated nation can do in its own homo. As Dr. Wcizmann has said, the 
song of Psalms will be heard from Dan to Bcersheba, not only in Palestine 
but everywhere. 

I wish to emphasize the fact) that our Nationalism does not mean that 
we desire to establish barriers between ourselves and other nations. Far 
from it. Our desire is to bridge the gulf which has been created through 
an abnormal life. In a renewed and liberated Kretz Yisrael, where the 
selfish barriers between man and man no longer exist, we hope to lealize 
the ideals of the Prophets of Israel, which are the ideals of our Modern 
Jewish poeis and thinkers, and also those of our eminent guest, Dr. Tagore. 


V. 

The Message of an Indian. 

By D. J. Irani. 

(Translation of an Article in the Ciornale d’ltalia). 

I am proud of my India of to-day. I am proud because of the two 
supermen we possess, each with a distinct message not only for our country, 
but for the world, for humanity at large. The one is Mahatma Gandhi, 
the apostle of non-violence ; and the other is the Poet Tagore, the apostle 
who wants the nations of the Kast and the West to study their mutual 
cultures, and by the mutual understanding and good will, proceeding from 
this intellectual contact, to strengthen more surely the bonds of international 
friendship and amity. 

World-peace and human brotherhood can be the only ideals towards 
which the coming civilisation can rightly move. But these are mere catch 
phrases at present, and by themselves will prove useless to humanity in 



306 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Kartic , 133 *■ 

the future, — as the teachings of the great Prince of Peace, have proved to 
the nations professing His religion. 

Imagine, my friends, what we Orientals can think about you, nations 
of the West! Christ died on the cross, with the message of love on his 
lips; and the Christian nations, after they have had nearly two thousand 
years to assimilate His teachings of love and peace, run at each other’s 
throats h'ke a pack of wolves. And lo ! when hundreds of thousands are 
killed or maimed in battle, and millions are widowed and orphaned, bells 
are rung in the churches, by whichever side claims temporary victory, to 
proclaim this horrible fact ! 

None can deny that this has been the result of narrow nationalism. 
Patriotism is undoubtedly a virtue, but within its proper limits; every 
virtue carried to excess is a vice. And the Wesls to-day is sick and ailing, 
because all its nations have for their motto “my country, right or wrong”, 
because all of them believe that Might is Right. 

For this universal ailment, India is offering to the world, as it were, 
two physicians, Tagore and Gandhi. They do not claim to come with any 
new message. They interpret, once again to all, the spirit of the ancient 
scriptures of the East. To us, Truth and Right, the Asha of the Zorastrians, 
and the Rita of the Upanishads, stand above the wants and interests of 
community or country. 

And I am an optimist. The coming world will yearn and work for 
world-peace and human brotherhood. And what better armaments can it 
then have than the creed of non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi? What better 
means can it have, for the fostering of mutual respect and understanding 
amongst its members of different- races and religious, than the opportunity 
to meet intellectually and study the cultures of each other, assimilate what 
is best in all, and then lay the foundation of an intellectual league of 
nations? That is the ideal of Visva-bharati, Poet Tagore’s International 
University, at Santinikctan, in India. 

In the development of this idea, rendered so feasible by the increase 
of means of rapid communication between all countries; in dotting the 
world over with centres of study of international cultures, like the Visva- 
bharati ; lies vhe hope for the world’s redemption, the hope for realisation 
of the immortal truth : “The Fatherhood of God, and brotherhood of men.” 













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a* 

as 












THE V1SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY 

Vol. II. JANUARY, 1925 No. 4 


INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

[a I ccUire delivered in Japan]. 

By Rabindranath Tagore. 

When I was about to start for my tour in China and japan, 
there was an enthusiatic meeting in Calcutta, where my country- 
men came together to express their joy at my taking this journey 
to the great Eastern countries. I felt with a sense of delight that 
the consciousness of kinship was waxing stronger among our 
people and that its growth might lead to a great future for Asia. 

My friends who came to wish me happy times on these shores, 
asked me also to convey to your country their feelings of love and 
respect for you. They also requested me to ask you to rise above 
circumstances, favourable or unfavourable, and to prove the 
dignity of Eastern mind. They are all waiting to see a great 
Renaissance in Asia through Japan, where life is at its floodtide, 
and they wish she would wake up to the great responsibility she 
has, not only to her own people, but to the great continent to 
which she belongs. 

At the same time, they wanted me to offer to your people 
their heartfelt sympathy for the disaster which has so suddenly 
overtaken your country. I am sure that the calamities over which 
you have no hand came to prove your manhood , and are in them- 
selves an opportunity. Disasters only become absolutely dis- 
astrous when we know not how to deal with them. 

Now that I have come to Japan, I realise with what courage 
you have accepted your tribulation. I see no sign of despair in 
your faces ; I see that you have within yourselves that indomitable 



308 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

lesourcefulness which will help you to make good the loss. I do 
not mean that they will merely make your position stronger even 
than before ; but the fact that you are able to face misfortune of 
such an overwhelming nature in the right spirit, will gain for you 
greater prestige among other nations, and give you a firmer 
confidence in your own power. 

All great civilisations are built upon numberless ruins, — the 
toppled down towers of victory and wealth. It is only human 
beings in this world of life who have found their greatness through 
the desperate urgings of unfavourable circumstances. Humanity 
has never been pampered, petted and spoilt by Nature., but rather 
lespected by being given constant opportunity to overcome the 
obstacles of failures and losses. I believe that what has now 
happened to you, and has brought your gathered resources of 
years to the dust in a moment, will inspire you to make a better 
beginning for a more vigorous experiment. You will realise that 
the people’s life, like a waterfall, finds its full force of movement 
through courageous leaps from peak to peak of new trials. 

This earthquake has only been the cause of physical upset 
for you, but unfortunately, closely following this, you have also 
received lately a rude moral shock in your national relations with 
another people, and this has deeply hurt your people, even 
more than the former which was only physical, because it has 
come with deliberate purpose from human hands. And yet what 
I expect to see among your people at this time of crisis is the same 
dignity of calm and patient fortitude. 

You are on your trial to-day. The eyes of all nations are 
upon you in this calamity. Great tribulations in our history 
should never fail to give us the occasion to bring out the best 
resources of our life, so as not only to reveal them to the outer 
world, but — and this is more valuable — to reveal them to our- 
selves. If to-day you can discover some hidden source of 
magnanimity with which to face the insult and injury, if you can 
keep the majesty of your mind unimpaired, then you will be 
happy, and future generations will be thankful to you. 

You have discovered one thing, that this earthquake, though 
but physical, and therefore causing you only material loss, has 
yet a great similarity to the disturbance of your relations with a 



January, 1925] 


INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 


309 


western country ; for, the latter is also external, having in it no 
acknowledgement of moral law. Any relationship which had a 
moral value, would have been stronger than before at this time 
of suffering. But your relationship, as it was, was precarious. 
Any little event would have proved its hollowness. This was 
inevitable because it was not based upon the comradeship of human 
hearts. It had for its basis a sense of mere expediency, that 
lacked the frankness of youth and had the calculating spirit of 
senility. It was a treacherous ’y shifting base upon which you 
could never have built \our best hopes. 

It is unfortunate that such disillusionment always gives rise 
to our baser passions. We feel angry and vengeful and eager to 
letaliate. (only then it becomes a complete defeat. I know if 
this insult had been offered by you to any western country, there 
would have been furious outbreaks of violence, of Ku Klux 
Klanism, of atrocious lynching against your people, and even its 
scientists and scholars would have had no shame in repudiating 
the claims of science and scholarship in your country. But is it 
right that you should copy that ? Is it right that you, along with 
>our political defeat, should accept moral defeat? I hope that 
your people, through your spiritual generosity, through your true 
pride of civilisation and tnrough that sense of hospitality, which 
has been your birthright for centuries, will exercise your mind 
that has been trained and gifted with a wonderful self-control. 

1 should deplore very deeply the appearance of any sign of 
decay in these great traits of character that you possess. This is 
the time when you can bring out of your store all the wealth of 
moral heroism that you have inherited from your forefathers. 
This is the time to put to shame those others who have treated you 
in this unchivalrous manner, showing that their profession of 
friendship was all the while waiting for your weak moment, 
shamelessly to contradict itself. I do not think that any symptom 
of political hysteria on your part, is at all seemly at this time, 
or in accordance with your national tradition. 

If we find you indulging just now in vulgar boisterousness, 
we shall know that it is weakness, which you have borrowed 
through those importers of moral drugs from abroad. We have 
been schooled in the West, where they have become hypnotised 



3io 


THE VIS V A-BH ARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


by the sight of open and public expressions of vengefulness, the 
modern version of the naked war-dance of the savage. I hope that 
you will be saved from this. Real suicide it would be, if you 
were to forget your own true character, and the fact that there 
is a kind of death far worse than physical death itself. 

In the East, we have had the courage to have faith even in 
impossible ideals. You all know that it was a prophet of the 
East who could say : “Love your enemies”. You know too of 
another prophet of the East who could say : “Conquer anger by 
non-anger and evil by goodness.” There are those in the West, 
who have accepted these teachings in their churches and yet who 
feel extremely nervous when they are reminded of them, when 
they find that such teaching is commercially unprofitable and 
politically inconvenient. Some of our friends hei'e, who have 
studied Indian History, will tell you how these ideals have been 
pursued and believed in, and how men went to extreme lengths 
\>f non-killing, of non-violence, and of non-anger. 

You have perhaps also learnt from the newspapers how a 
prophet has arisen in India, who has likewise proclaimed that you 
have to conquer violence by non-violence. He speaks like a . 
prophet of the East and insists that what has been translated into 
the Bible of the West must not only be pursued in the personal 
lives of individuals but must be given the best possible expression 
in our national lives. 

Perhaps most of you will not accept this teaching, — you will 
not be able to apply it to your national life. I understand your 
misgivings and sympathise with you in your want of faith. But 
let us discuss this point. 

There was a time when our lives were simpler, when the 
spirit of the people was hospitable. This spirit has been over- 
come by the spirit of the Nation, with its intense consciousness 
of self-interest concentrated in political organisation. Such an 
unlimited cultivation of over-consciousness of self by the whole 
people, must inevitably produce its harvest of suspicion, hatred 
and inhospitable exclusiveness. And therefore if you have been 
rudely treated by a nation, and abruptly hustled out whenever it 
has been safe for it to disclose its moral crudity, there is no cause 
for surprise. It is of no use to be angry either against the earth- 



January, 1925] 


INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 


3 ” 

quake, or against such eruptions of moral catastrophe, which are 
inevitable when this phenomenon that we term the Nation is 
rampant. 

To be just and fair, you Lave to acknowledge that you also 
have been unjust and grasping vliere your nation has had a safe 
opportunity to manifest its evil : spect. I have a deep love and 
respect for you as a people, but whet: as a nation you have your 
dealings with other nations you also can bv_ deceptive, cruel and 
efficient in handling those methods in which the western nations 
show such mastery. You must not plume yourselves that when 
you are suffering from small-pox, your skin and temperature be- 
have better than those of other people who have the same malady. 

Tet us consider how this demoniacal power of the Nation has 
arisen. The nature of the people depends for its manifestation 
upon its creative personality. It has religion, arts, literature, 
traditions of social responsibility and co-operation. Its wealth to 
maintain itself and power of defence are secondary ; they are not 
the ultimate ends for the people. But the Nation manifests itself 
m its property. The people represent life, the nation materials ; 
when they r are in harmony, that is to say, when material posses- 
sions keep to their own limits and the creative life is unhampered 
in its spontaneous activity, then civilisation is hospitable and 
generous. This being the case in the olden times it was possible 
for India to find her home in the heart of China and Japan, and 
your administrators did not busy themselves to find out if some 
groups of idealists, freed from barriers of passport offices, were 
finding access to the heart of your country, instead of into its 
gaols with police spies at their heels. 

But (whe n material possessions become too vast for a people, 
or when in competition with others the desire for material wealth 
rouses its ambition, then ail its time and mind are occupied with 
very little else. The man who is “millionaire” is dragged by the 
very weight of his millions to the path of the multitude of millions. 
Then he has no time for culture, or for the poetry of life ; he 
strictly barricades himself against visitors, whom he cannot but 
suspect to be self-seekers, being selfish in his own out-look upon 
life. In other words he becomes professional, and the human in 
him is banished into the shaded. 



312 


THE VISVA-BHARAT1 QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


Since nature’s storehouse of power and wealth has been 
opened by the help of science, some people who know how to take 
advantage of it have suddenly grown enormously rich and others 
are incited to follow their example. The people, who were human, 
who were creative and social in their self-expression, have become 
professional, enormously self-centred and anti-social in their 
tendency of mind. Material wealth and power, with their very 
bulk, have occupied the greater part of the space, time and mind, 
of the people, necessitating a tremendous expense of thought and 
resources for ensuring its safety. 

Material possessions create the worst divisions in human 
society when they are disproportionately big and naturally un- 
mindful of moral responsibility. Therefore the Nation, the 
presiding genius of the material department of the people, can 
not but be hard and exclusive. And in the modern age this 
department has become the most proudly domineering of all other 
manifestations of human society. It has made the craving for 
money universal and has given the name of Progress to the raising 
of the material standard of living. 

We all know how those who are immoderately rich suffer 
from a sense of class-distinction ; how money, which is a dead 
thing, acts as an impenetrable wall around their self -imprison- 
ment. Within this dungeon of illusion, they are proud of their 
segregation. This process is going on not only with individuals, 
but with the prosperous nations. And it is just these prosperous 
nations which become most suspicious of idealism, which barricade 
their doors with spies, police and prohibitions in order to safe- 
guard their citadel of wealth, where the human spirit languishes 
and where there is no touch of life. 

Such nations are doomed and they carry the curse of God in 
their money bags. They will die in the very enclosures which 
they have built for themselves, — enclosures of wealth, of high 
walls of national distinction impenetrable for others. Yet 
these are the people who once professed faith in a man, and even 
accepted him to be their God ; who said it was easier for a camel 
to pass through the needle’s eye than for the rich to find access to 
the Kingdom of Heaven. 

'“ijjFhe Kingdom of Heaven is here on this earth. It is there, 



January, 1925] 


INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 


313 

where we realise our best relations with our fellow-beings where 
there is no mutual suspicion and misunderstanding. There is 
the Kingdom of Heaven, in the spirit of comradeship and love. 
Christ was right when he said that the path to such a Kingdom 
is closed for him who thinks more of his money than of his soul, 
more of his soul, more of his personal right than of his human 
responsibility. Now that the whole human world has surrendered 
itself to the hue of money and power, the severance of human 
relationship is everywhere becoming evident and the fight 
between classes is spreading wide. 

Tf you mu a t have peace, you will have to fight the spirit 
of this demon, the Nation. You may think it hopeless, but do 
you not realise that its first appearance was not so long ago, not 
more than two centuries ; that it has not the sign of immortality 
upon it, that already ii is tottering towards its downfall? You 
must know that if we cling to this sinking ship, we also shall be 
drowned. 

Let me appeal to your imagination. If we could go back into 
the distant past, we would know of facts that are not in histories. 
We would know that groups of men grew into great peoples 
through overcoming a feeling of distrust and cultivating sympathy 
for each other. It was not at all easy ; for our passions are 
individualistic, our selfishness immensely strong. And yet 
the impossible has been attained in some societies. A system of 
discipline has been established, the sentiments of sympathy 
cultivated and the ferocious savage has been tamed on a whole- 
sale scale. We must also know that those who went on indulging 
in their sefish isolation, perished. 

Suppose that the idealists had been there in those days and 
that they had had the courage to speak to those who still believed 
in robbery and muscular brutality and to warn them that they 
would never form great nations, do you they think that they would 
have been listened to? They would promptly have been eaten 
up ! 

In the early history of life in this world, with its display of 
stupendous bodily bulk and strength, when puny man first 
appeared on this earth, could his final victory have been predicted 
by the logic of appearances ? In the same manner, it is apparent- 



THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY 


[Magh, 1331 


314 


ly unbelievable lo-day that only those who can overcome the 
egoistic sense of nationalism, who can develop the understanding 
of sympathy that pierces through barriers of race differences, who 
have the enduring strength of meekness, will inherit the earth ; 
and not those who are imagined to be born rulers of men. 

Often have my western friends almost sneeringly said to 
me that we in the East have no faith in Democracy, and thereupon 
they have asserted the superiority of their own mind over ours. 
Not being combative, I did not want to argue the matter and 
contradict them in their deep-rooted illusion. T know that in our 
part of the world we have some people who, as being of noble 
descent, are considered aristocrats, and enjoy special rights. My 
western friends believe that they have no such anomalies in their 
part of the world. 

Be that as it may, one thing they must admit, that because 
our aristocracy is restricted to a narrow circle, the rest of the 
people have the true democratic spirit, which is the spirit of the 
community. About one thing there can be no difference of 
opinion, that we never had an aristocracy of the whole people, 
like this monstrous aristocracy so proud of its European blood, 
which has no pity for others who are darker in colour, for those 
Asiatics and African who can be exploited with impunity, as 
the common people used to be exploited in France before the 
1 evolution broke out. 

These monster aristocrats consider us to be plebeian, 
because we are of another continent. While loudly protesting 
their democracy, they extort false evidence from a make-believe 
science to prove their race superiority and their right to inherit 
the earth. These aristocrats of monstrous girth and open 
jaws are out to feast upon the life blood of peoples whom they 
have dubbed ignoble, who are expected to feel grateful for provid- 
ing comfort to the Nordic race with their own extinction. They 
assert their race aristocracy, not merely through their home-made 
science, but through the coercion of darker continents to slavery 
by the shattering argument of bombs. To day, they are almost 
openly ready to drop their pretensions to moral culture ; but 
nevertheless they cling to their two illusions, the one of the Nordic 
race, and the other of Democracy. 



January, 1925] INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 3 If, 

We, who do not profess democracy, acknowledge our human 
obligations and have faith in our code of honour. But are you 
also going to allow yourselves to be tempted by the contagion of 
this belief in your own hungry right of inborn superiority, bear- 
ing the false name of democracy? Leave the unreality of these 
professions ; hold up to us someth : ng which is your very own and 
not mere imil ation . Do you not see how i his malady of imitation 
is rapidly spreading from shore +0 shore, f.om nation to nation? 
It has the same monotunvof features, in its offices, barracks, dress 
and manners, its attitude of mind Lvery people in this world 
is vying with its neighbour to copy i'., because being non-living 
it is easy to copy indefinitely. It is a mask that can be precisely 
similar in its multiplication, not a face which has spontaneous 
variety of self-expression. 

Bur the mask can easily smother the living individuality of 
the face. That is what is happening everywhere in the world, 
the monotony of the nation killing the individuality of the people. 
The stone pavement, which can be made in the same stereotyped 
plan everywhere, deprives the soil of its unique personality of 
flowers and harvest. Through this deadening influence, even 
your arts and crafts, all the dencate idioms of expression in your 
life and surroundings, are fast losing their own living character 
and stiffening into the standardised convention made in a foreign 
world. The Nation makes this mould, which may be useful; 
but we cannot afford to pay its cost with the inspiration of creative 
life, winch is inherent in living peoples. 

It is the people in the western countries, that have produced 
its literature, its art, its music and dance; it is the spirit of the 
people that spoke through the voice of the great dramatists and 
artists of Greece, through the voice of Dante, Shakespeare and 
Goethe ; it is the soul of your people, which reigns in your homes, 
giving them a profound quiet of beauty, in the dignified self- 
control of your behaviour, in the combination of usefulness and 
grace in all things that you produce, in your inimitable paintings 
and dramatic performances. 

But what are these products of the Nation, — -the machinery of 
destruction and profit-making, the double dealings of diplomacy, 
— in the face of which moral obligation lies defeated and the spirit 



31 6 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY t Magh , 1331 

of human brotherhood destroyed? You have been tempted, or 
perhaps almost compelled, to accept them ; and we in India are 
envying you, ready for ourselves to accept as much of them as 
comes our way. The cruelty and meanness of lies and exaggera- 
tion and the greed of self-seeking are creeping up over that soil 
on which were born those great sages who preached maitri 
and self-emancipation. 

Whenever the spirit of the Nation has come, it has destroyed 
sympathy and beauty, and driven out the generous obligations 
of human relationship from the hearts of men. It has spread the 
ugliness of its cities and its markets into the minds and enthroned 
the demon of deformity on the hearts of men. Though to-day it 
dominates the spirit of man everywhere in the world, it will die 
like the worm which dies in the heart of the fruit that it has 
devoured. It will die, — but unfortunately it may meanwhile 
destroy things of unrivalled worth, the products of centuries of 
self-control and spiritual training. 

I have come to warn you in Japan, the country where I wrote 
my first lectures against Nationalism at a time when people 
laughed my ideas to scorn. They thought that I did not know 
the meaning of the word and accused me of having confused the 
word Nation with State. But I stuck to my conviction and now 
after the war, do you not hear everywhere the denunciation of 
this spirit of the nation, this collective egoism of the people, which 
is universally hardening their hearts? 

I have come once again to remind you. I hope to be able to 
meet individuals in this country, who have the courage of faith 
needed to bring about a great future. Let Japan find her own 
true mind, which will not merely accept lessons from others, but 
will create a world of her own, which will be generous of its gifts 
to all humanity. Make all other peoples of Asia proud in their 
acknowledgement of your greatness, which is not based upon the 
enslavement of victims, upon the accumulation of material wealth 
exclusively for your own enjoyment, — wealth which is not ac- 
cepted by man for all time and is rejected by God. 



THE BODY OF HUMANITY 

By C. F. Andrews. 

I. 

Ever since I was able to tiling seriously, it lias appeared to 
me self-evident, that if the theory ot physical evolution is true, 
and human life in this planet is the crown of creation, then it is 
impossible that the religious Distinct in man can be a disorderly 
and chaotic factor in human life, — a mere i ivalry of warring 
creeds. There must be an organic unity between those different 
creeds, which have persisted in human development, — a relation 
between them that is intimately spiritual. We can no longer 
think of each creed as a special creation. The genealogical tree 
of religion in man’s long history has many branches, and these 
branches issue from a parent stem ; they are not individual 
and distinct and cut off from one another, as we used to think of 
them in our pre-Darwinian days. 

Such thoughts have been with me all through my conscious 
life of seeking after truth. The difficulty has been, to trace out 
the main directions in which the different branches of religion 
have grown, and also to relate them to the parent stem. I have 
come to one personal conclusion, which I have slowly made my 
own. Just as, amid the many names of those who dealt with the 
physical evolution of mankind, the name of Darwin stands first as 
a pioneer and discoverer, so in the realm of religious evolution, 
Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s name will stand out greatest and highest 
of all. 

What I am trying to describe in this article as a result of 
my own conscious experience in Lhought, owes its outline at least 
to the extraordinary stimulus which I received from my first read- 
ing of the English works of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. I would 
wish to acknowledge this, as a debt which is deeply due, before I 
go on. In what follows I have ventured to use some material 
from an unfinished essay, which I contributed to the Modern 



318 the VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

Review more than ten years ago. I have, however, considerably 
revised some of my previous conclusions. 

When we try, with all the accumulated knowledge of mankind 
which the last century has given us, to picture the human race 
past and present, we find that the two longest groups of human 
civilisation and culture spring ultimately from two great under- 
lying religious movements in the East and West. 

The former of these two movements had its centre in 
Northern India and passed thence to almost every part of Asia, 
except its Western corner, unifying for over two thousand years 
the further East. It goes by the name of Hinduism in India, 
and of Buddhism in other lands. 

The second, which is called Christianity, had its original 
home in the Western corner of Asia, among a Semitic people, and 
therefrom passed over the whole of Europe and America unifying 
the West. 

Between these two great areas of culture, stretches a great 
land barrier, as it were, which was occupied later in the day by a 
third supreme movement of religion, called Islam, dividing 
for the most part by its presence the two cultures, to the East and 
West of it, about which I have already spoken. The watersheds 
of Indian religion have on the whole been eastward. The water- 
sheds of Christianity have been persistently westward. From 
time to time, the land barrier of Western Asia has been crossed ; 
but more frequently, Islam itself has been modified and moulded 
by Christianity on its Western borders and by Hinduism on its 
Eastern frontier, and has coloured in turn with its own distinctive 
hue both these religions. 

It might be of speculative interest to consider, what would 
have happened if Indian Buddhism had wholly pierced the laud 
barrier westward before it was occupied by Islam ; or if St. Paul’s 
vast spiritual genius and personality had folly pierced it east- 
ward. But for practical purposes such speculations are of little 
value. The course of human history has flowed steadily in other 
directions ; and, if the theory of religious evolution is true, there 
must be some design and purpose in all such demarcations. 

In making these wide generalisations, I have omitted two 
hitherto unsolved historical factors. The former is the important 



January, 1923] 


THE BODY OF HUMANITY 


319 


question how far the Hindu-Buddhist impulse did actually 
penetrate the West before the bb-tli of Christ. The second is the 
problem of Nestorian Chrisiauity. New evidence is coming to 
light, every day, that this Eastern presentation of the Christian 
Faith may have affected Mahay ana Buddhism and have left much 
fertilising silt behind, as it hooded forward as far as China in 
the Seventh and Eighth cenlrries ->fter Christ. But neither 
of these two questions a fleets the actual grouping of religions, 
which wc find in the world to day. 

A fourth group, comprisin'; the animistic tribes of Africa, 
Polynesia, South America, and certain parts of Asia, need not 
delay us. For there is every sign, that the whole area of the 
world’s population will rapidly be absorbed into one or other of 
the religions already mentioned. In Africa, for instance, Islam 
is likely to go on expanding from the North towards the Centre; 
while Christianity is spreading with equal rapidity from the South 
and around the Central Lakes. There would appear to be no 
likelihood, at this later stage of history, of the birth of a new 
religion in these regions of undeveloped humanity. 

II. 

When we examine the two larger groups of mankind, — leav- 
ing aside for the moment the Islamic area, — we find that there is 
one striking resemblance in their primitive history. Secular 
civilisation of a material type, has been penetrated at last by reli- 
gion owing to the birth of a supremely spiritual personality. 
With regard to India, we are slowly coming to understand how far 
advanced in art and wealth and commerce the ancient Dravidian 
Civilisation actually was, before the Aryan invasion took place. . 
The Aryans did not find merely savage peoples to conquer. There 
was a background of culture already there. But the religious 
work of the Aryans was so creative and productive, that Dravidian 
India was not only converted, it became in turn singularly rich 
in religious thought and gave the true direction of each new 
advance of Hinduism during the early Middle Ages. Thus India 
has kept permanently religions. 

Another unsolved problem of history, which I can only show 
in passing, is to find out how far the Dravidian secular system 



320 


THE VISVA-BIIARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


contained in itself the seeds of religion and thus helped originally 
to make the Aryan development progressive. Certain specula- 
tions have recently swung the pendulum of our historical imagina- 
tion that way, bidding us revise our facts concerning the debt of 
the Dravidians to the Aryan invaders. 

In China, the penetration of the original secular civilisation 
by the Aryan religion was never so complete as in India itself. 
The Confucian ethics had already so deeply impressed Chinese 
life as a whole, that the Buddhist movement from India became 
almost absorbed into this strong ethical culture. Nevertheless 
Okakura’s picture of a Buddha land, which reached from Bactria 
to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, is in the main a true one. The 
religious spirit of India, transplanted to China, Japan and the 
Malay Peninsula, has left its deep mark upon all these countries. 
It has produced many of those same qualities, in the peoples of 
the Far East, that we find in India itself, and has given to the 
whole group of Eastern peoples an unmistakable spiritual 
distinction . 

The power of this religious atmosphere to transfonn 
character may be measured from the fact, that all the barbarian 
invasions of fierce and savage races into India and China have 
never been able to subdue this inner spirit of religious peace and 
calm or to force back these countries into barbarism. If there 
is a spiritual atmosphere of the East, peculiarly its own, it is 
due principally to the effect of this unifying Aryan religion, 
which radiated from India. 

Turning to the West, we find the same permeation of secular 
civilisation by creative religion. Here, in the West, the Aryan 
invaders found a civilisation, already in possession, even more 
highly developed than that of the Dravidians in India. With its 
home originally in Egypt, and its centre, later on, in Crete, it 
mingled with the other civilisations of the world in Mesopotamia 
and Phoenicia, and reproduced their art and luxury. But it seems 
to have lacked that spiritual idealism, which might have served 
to make it a beacon light for humanity. 

That light was first kindled in Europe by the intermingling 
of the young Aryan invaders with the older inhabitants. This 
cross fertilisation issued in the intellectual glory of Greece. But 



January, 1925] 


THE BODY OF HUMANITY 


321 


it was from a Semetic source, — in the tiny corner of Western Asia 
called Judea, — that came, aRng with a supreme spiritual 
personality, the genial religious impulse which we call Chris- 
tianity. 

Few problems have been more difficult to solve than the 
origins of this religion. That these were not solely Semetic, 
appears now to be quite certain. But two questions remain un- 
solved : ( i ) How fat the Hunau-Buddhist influences had teached 
Palestine, in such a way as to give seed thoughts to the new 
religious cult; («) How far the Greek mind had penetrated the 
Christian religions development front its very first inception. 
What is ascertained is this, that a spiritual force of immense 
potency h id suddenly appeared in the history of the human race, 
which was only comparable with the Buddhist impulse from India. 
Those who have read through H. G. Well’s ‘Outline of History’ 
are aware, how these two creative Epochs, the Christian and the 
Buddhist, are the two pivots on which the whole history of the 
human race turns. 

In the subsequent centuries of the West, the Christian light 
has more than once been nearly extinguished altogether. From 
the eighth to the twelfth centuries in Europe, barbarism had 
reigned almost supreme. But during the Middle Ages, a revival 
of pure religion passed over the whole of the West. A second 
revival came with the Reformation ; then the Modern Age began. 
Meanwhile Christianity itself had crossed the Atlantic and power- 
fully affected the growth of the young civilisation that had sprung 
up in North America. The Quakers and the Puritans of 
Pennsylvania and New England set the type. 

When we try to review this process in order to consider the 
spiritual atmosphere produced in the West, we must allow for 
certain factors, as in the case of China, which stand apart from 
leligion altogether and may lx. traced to purely secular causes. 
The chief of these, perhaps, is that strong aggressive energy which 
has been derived partly from the old Roman tradition and partly 
from Teutonic sources. Christianity has used this and modified 
it, but has never completely assimilated and transformed it, or 
overcome its harshness, except in individuals. 



322 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY t Magh, 1331 

III. 

With the ground work thus mapped out, we may now go on 
to consider how far the corporate ideal of humanity has been 
advanced and how far it has been retarded. 

Turning first to India and China, which comprise nearly half 
the human race, we find in certain directions a very strong cohesive 
tendency at work. It is a strange historical blindness which fails 
to see the inner unity of the Indian peoples, — a unity all the more 
striking because of the multiplicity of races and languages, of 
local and tribal customs. 

It is a unity almost entirely dependent on a spiritual 
atmosphere, hard to define but omnipresent. A bewildering 
variety of religious emotions, age after age, has gone to produce 
it : the continuous tradition of the Brahmin priesthood has 
influenced it, for good and ill alike. But deeper than this, there 
seems to be something equivalent to a religious attachment to the 
very soil itself; a sense of the Genius Loci, on a transcendant 
scale; a devotion which makes every mountain and river sacred, 
and unites with this sanctity the very animals as Integra 1 with 
mankind. This religious attachment is bound up with the 
thought of God as immanent in the universe and in man. It is 
not in any way the product of the schools, but closely akin to 
Nature, and found most strongly developed in those who are 
nearest to Nature, — the villagers, the peasants. 

This sense of unity, this religious spirit, which finds God’s 
immanence everywhere, has gradually produced its own 
atmosphere and made the land of India like no other region on 
Barth. Alien races have entered India, and fallen under its 
spell. Alien religions have come in, and felt a subtle change 
pass over them. India has always been and always must be 
essentially a country of religion, because religion is in the very 
air that India breathes. 

When the social effect of this remarkable religious develop- 
ment is looked for, the first impression is one of disappointment. 
For the immense stratification of society caused by the caste 
system, with the ‘untouchable’ problem behind it, has rendered 
Hindu life in certain respects highly artificial, and, in the cult 



January, 1925] 


THE BODY OF HUMANITY 


323 


of untouchability, inhuman. The self-contained village system 
next attracts attention, owing tr its persistence through all the 
changes of history; but while it has a simplicity and beauty of 
its own, which it would be vandalism to destroy, yet in its present 
form it has shown singularly little adaptability^, or progressive 
assimilation. 

It is when we come to the inner circle of the family, that we 
reach the true secret of India’s greatness and find the highest 
mark of spiritual influence, i'liis lies in the ideal of the true 
life, so intimately bound up at e* cry point with religion, and the 
ieverence of mar for womanhood as the ‘mother’, with its counter- 
part of wifely devotion, giving the profoundest unity of all. 
Marriage, in India, has become a sacrament of renunciation. The 
womanhood of India, more than anything else, has kept this 
sacramental hew of life whole and undefiled. By the Hindu 
woman’s utter and absolute self-devotion, going even to the 
extravagant lengths of Sali, she lias maintained religious idealism 
secure, and set forth an infinite and unbounded sacrifice before 
the eyes of men. Thus man, in his turn, has been drawn away 
from the world to the religions life, and lias found in his old age 
no satisfaction except in the Eternal. 

In China, the close cohesion of the population has been 
reached by a different process ; yet in the family life is to be found, 
even as in India, the secret of its permanence and stability, — the 
true basis of a lasting civilisation, that has somehow escaped the 
poison germs of senile decay. In comparison with the Indian 
conception, we note in China this new and striking fact, that the 
centre of devotion, and of the same type of extravagant sacrifice, 
lies not so much in the wife, as in the children, who are ready to 
yield life itself on behalf of the parents. This fact has made the 
idealism of China more ethical, sober and practical, and less 
mystically religious than that of India. 

The filial love of China is based on noble ethical law and 
custom, finding a response in the human heart. But the love of 
wife and mother in India had its origin in religion, and has there- 
fore maintained throughout its essentially mystical and 
sacramental basis. Thus the love of the son and the daughter for 
the parents in China has not brought with it quite the same sense 



324 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


of the Infinite which Indian religion has always possessed. Yet 
t’neie can be no question, that the ancestor worship of the Chinese, 
and the filial devotion connected with it, have a close relation to 
India, and their growth through many centuries has made a 
worthy contribution to the Body of Humanity. 

When we turn away from India and China to the West, we 
find a strongly different picture. At first sight, here again, the 
outward effects of Christianity, — with its high spiritual teaching 
unattained and unattainable, — are disappointing. There has 
been, on one side, the immoderate haste to increase material riches 
at the expense of others, which has led to the exploitation of alien 
races and the growth of an inhuman colour prejudice ; while, on 
the other side, there has grown up a complicated system of 
aggressive and pugnacious national units, which, like the caste 
sjrstem in India, have outgrown their proper use and become a 
menace to mankind. 

But along with this negative and destructive side, there has 
also been a positive contribution of good, which represents the 
great constructive achievement of Europe. This finds its centre 
most truly in the ideal of individual freedom and personality, 
often grossly caricatured and misrepresented, but still our ever 
abiding and increasing possession which the Body of Humanity 
may claim for its own. 

This ideal of freedom mav have already existed in Europe 
in pre-Christian times. It underlies, in a certain measure, both 
Greek and Roman History ; and it gained fresh strength from the 
Teutonic races. But Lord Acton has shown, in his famous 
lectures entitled ‘The History of Freedom’, how Christianity 
imparted to the ideal of freedom its own peculiar spiritual power 
and made it current coin for mankind as a whole to use. 

A further phase of the same ideal of freedom and personality 
is represented by the mingling of the spiritual hope in the future 
of mankind with the experimental knowledge of modern science. 
Science received at last in Europe, after many struggles and 
persecutions, the mental background of aspiration which it needed 
in order to make its great advance. The development of practical 
philanthropy has gone forward hand in hand with it. 



January, 1925] 


THE BODY OF HUMANITY 


325 


This united advance has cleared away already many of the 
foul diseases which were festering in the Body of Humanity. It 
has made directly for soundness and sanity and health. It has 
led, in modern times, to the emancipation of the slave, the mitiga- 
tion of human suffering, together with the reduction of cruelty 
both towards man and beast. What was foreshadowed in early 
Buddhist times, more than twenty centuries ago, and practised 
all over tile East, has now been taken up into a world-wide 
religious movement of humanitarian sympathy coextensive with 
all the races of living creatures both animal and human. 

The New World of NoUh America was early freed, by 
fortunate circumstances, from the aggressive nationalisms of 
Europe, with their petty local frontiers and armed customs 
barriers bristling like prickly hedges, dividing mankind into 
fenced compartments The disruptive tendencies of the Oid 
World have been overcome in a considerable measure in tlie New ; 
and there has been a great cohesive tendency binding the different 
states and provinces together. Furthermore, a vast immigrant 
population from the poorest classes of Europe — Poles, Italians, 
Russians, Irish, — lias been absorbed and assimilated. 

On the other hand, the Negro problems in North America, 
and other allied ‘colour’ questions, still remain unsolved. The 
signs are cminious and full of portent for the future. The recent 
ruthless Asiatic Exclusion Law has dealt a serious wound at the 
Body of Humanity, which will be extremely hard to heal. 

Yet in spite of these portentous and alarming features, there 
is a youthful vigour and a freedom from past impediments about 
the peoples of the New World, which may enable them both to 
make their peace betimes with Asia, and also overcome the 
separatist evils which have so often defeated Europe and Asia 
alike. The younger member of the human family has not yet, 
however, the right to take the lead. That right, if prematurely 
given, might only spell disaster to mankind. 

In the second part of this Essay, I shall discuss what 
contribution the Islamic Civilisation is likely to make to the Body 
of Humanity, and also examine the possibilities of the immediate 
future, when intimate intercourse becomes still further developed 
among the peoples of mankind. 



326 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


WHEN ALL MY DOORS ARE OPEN. 

By Rabindranath. 

Once when we were both together, Spring came to our cottage, 
“Let me in,” he cried. 

He had brought for us the whispered secrets of his gladness, 
Lyrics of new leaves. 

I was busy with my fancies, you sat at your spinning, 

He went back unheeded. 

Suddenly we started when we saw his parting shadow 
And his remnant roses. 


Now, you are away, beloved, Spring comes to our cottage, 
“Let me in,” he cries. 

He has brought for me the fitful shiver of the shadows, 
Doves’ despondent cooings. 

I sit idle at the window, and a phantom spinning 
Spins to me sad dreams, 

Now that Spring has for his gift the gift of secret sorrow 
All my doors are open. 



A JAPANESE VIEW OF MODERN ART 

By Okakpra Kakuzo. 

This essay is a confession —hence an appeal ; an appeal, 
therefore a protest. And prot:sts are api to be wearisome. It 
concerns itself chief! y with tin.- problems of modern art as seen 
from a Japanese point of view . .Remember, however, that my 
criticisms are not dictated by any w-al/t of respect for Western art, 
compelling as it does, in all its phases, the unconscious homage 
of wonder, if not always of admiration. Oar reverential attitude 
toward any true expressions of art can be traced to our time- 
honoured axiom, that a picture should be approached as one would 
enter the presence of a great prince. We have been taught to 
prostrate ourselves even to a vase of flowers before examining 
the beauty of its arrangement. 

In the firsl. place, 1 wish to distinguish between the problems 
W'hicli concern the individual painter and those which concern 
society. In our Eastern conception of art, questions of technique 
belong to the painter himself. The public has no right to 
determine what it shall be, in the present or in the future. The 
individuality of the artistic effort forbids that an outsider should 
meddle in its methods. The painter himself is but half cognizant 
of the secret which makes him a master, for each new idea imposes 
its own modes and laws. The moment when he formulates his 
secrets is the moment when he enters on his old age and death. 

For beauty is the joy of the eternal youthfulness of the 
creative mind. And it is the sharing the gladness of the artist 
in his discovery of a re-awakened life in the universe that 
constitutes the love of art to us. One of our monk-painters of the 
Ashikaga period in the fourteenth century claims that art is as 
the samadhi of the playfulness of the human soul. Samadlii, as 
you know, is the term for supreme realization in Indian speech. 
Indeed, it is the magnificent innocence of the playful genius which 
is too selfish to be exclusive, that makes all great Art so 
unapproachable and so inviting to all. 



328 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

The common weakness of humanity is to offer advice when 
it is not asked. Society has been ever ready to invade the 
sanctuary of Art. Patronage, with its accustomed supercilious- 
ness, has often imposed its authority on a realm which gold could 
not reach. Public criticism, with the best intentions in the 
world, has made itself only ridiculous by trying to interfere in 
questions where the painter must be the sole judge. Why 
enchain the vital spirit of Art ? It is evanescent and always alive, 
and is godlike in its transformations. Was it not a Greek who 
said that he defined certain limits in Art by what he had done? 
The Napoleonic geniuses of the brush are constantly winning 
victories, mindless of the dogmatic strategy of the academicians. 
The foremost critic of modern England has been ironically 
censured for his undue depreciation of Whistler, as one who was 
to be remembered by what he failed to understand. The fate of 
aesthetic discussions is, to hand on the Achillean heels of Art, and 
therein to find the vulnerable point of attack. We can Ruskimze 
only on the past. 

If I may stretch a point, the masters themselves may be said 
to be responsible for allowing society to frustrate the spontaneous 
play of later artists. Their personality has been so great as to 
leave a lasting impression on the canons of beauty, and any devia- 
tion from the accepted notions is certain to be regarded with 
suspicion. Society has been taken into the confidence of Art, 
and, like all confidences, it has been either too little or too much. 
The world has become disrespectful toward Art on account of the 
proffered familiarity. It feels at liberty to dictate where it 
ought to worship, to criticize where it ought to comprehend. It 
is not that the public should not talk, but that it should know 
better. It is not that society should not be amused, but that it 
should enjoy more. We are sorry to realize how much of real 
aesthetic sympathy is lost in the jargon of studio-talks. 

The very individuality of Art, which makes its problem so 
subjective to the artist, at the same time makes it defy classifica- 
tion in time. It is a matter of doubt whether we can speak of the 
“modern problems” in painting as such, with any degree of 
accuracy or with profit. The problem which confronts the 
painter to-day has been always with him, since the days he first 



January, 1925] A JAPANESE VIEW OF MODERN ART 


329 


traced the mastodon on bone fragments, in the primeval dens of 
the cave-lions. 

In this age of classification we often forget that the eternal 
flow of life joins us with our predecessors. Classification is, after 
all, a convenience to arrange our thoughts, and, like all objects of 
convenience, becomes in the end troublesome. The modern 
scientific mind is apt to consider itself to have conquered matter 
by simply labelling it. But definitions are limitations, and thus 
barriers to our insight. A seventeenth-century Japenesc poet 
has written that wc feel the coldness of things on our lips, like a 
blast of autumn, whenever we begin io speak. Lao-tsze, in his 
supreme adoration of the Unspeakable, has t jointed out that the 
reality of a house is not in the roof or the walls, but in the spaces 
which they create. So the reality of painting consists in its 
innate beauty, not in the names of the schools or periods in which 
we love to arrange it on the shelves of our historical consciousness. 

It has been said that Romanticism is the distinctive character- 
istic of modern art. But which of the so-called classic masters 
has not been romantic? If the term means individualism, the 
expression of the self instead of impersonal ideals, it must be the 
common property, nay, the very essence of all creative efforts. 
If the term means the emotional side of the art-impulse in contra- 
distinction to the intellectual, or the sensuous, which respectively 
represent the classic or the realistic, it is again a name for Art 
itself, because Art is emotion. A painting is the whole man, 
with his infinite susceptibilities to the thoughts of other men and 
the nature around him. It is his essay on the world, whether 
ff be a protest or an acquiescence. Delacroix has been considered 
the acme of modern Romanticism. But do we not see in him the 
all-roundness of a great artistic mind ? He is an artist. He is 
a Delacroix. 

Again, people are wont to claim that Realism is the insignia 
of modern painting. There is no realism in Art in the strict 
sense of the word, for Art is a suggestion through Nature, not a 
presentation of Nature itself. We may notice that a vast amount 
cf conventionality exists even in the French Impressionists who 
are said to have uttered the last word of Realism. Their best 
productions command respect, not on account of their power of 



330 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


painting sunlight, but in the value of the new poetry they are 
enabled to express through their outdoor technique. Am I 
correctly informed that it was found in Titian ? Certainly in 
Michel-angelo ! 

Although the development of painting in different countries 
has created different methods of approaching nature, the original 
1 elation to it has never been broken. For nature is a part of Art 
as the body is a part of the soul. A Sung writer has called atten- 
tion to the interrelation by the remark that one admires a land- 
scape for being like a picture, and a picture because it is like a 
real landscape. Art is no less an interpretation of nature than 
nature is a commentary on Art. The types of physical beauty 
in man or woman, which have been the source of inspiration to 
great masters, are in their turn determined by the ideal which 
they set for the succeeding generations. The waves have become 
Korin to us, as shadows have grown to be Rembrandt to you. 

I do not know if I have made my meaning clear. T 
have been trying to say that the problems of the painter are indi- 
vidual and subjective, that the method of expressing his 
personality lies entirely with each artist and forbids any inter- 
ference from the outside. I hope that I have conveyed to you the 
idea that the questions which we may discuss profitably regarding 
painting are not, whether it shall be more idealistic or less 
realistic, whether the artist should create in this scheme of colour, 
or that tone of light. These belong to the painter exclusively, 
and he is well able to take care of himself. 

Then what is the objective side of the question ? What are 
the modern problems of painting which society can fitly discuss 
at all ? I reply that it is the relation of painting to Society 
itself. Society regulates the conditions under which Art is 
produced. If it cannot claim the artist, it can clain the man. F 
it cannot dictate his technique, it can furnish his theme, and to a 
certain extent his ideals. It is in the secret understanding 
between the performer and the audience that both delight. It is 
the humanity that reverberates alike through the chord of Art 
and the hearts of the people. The more human the call, the more 
universal and deeper the response. 



January, 1925] a JAPANESE VIEW OF MODERN ART 331 

Nothing touches us more than the weary lines on a great 
painter’s face, for they are the t~aees, not of his contact with his 
art, but with the world. One is a jcy and a solace, the other is 
an eternal torment. The antagonism between the two lies in the 
laws of thei r existence. Art is the sphere of freedom, Society 
that of conventions. The vulgar ever resent the ideal, Society 
is somehow always afraid of the living artist. It begins to offer 
applause when his ears are deaf, — hewers when he is safely laid 
in his grave. The success arm popularity of a living painter in 
many cases are signs of lowness of spiritual level. For the higher 
the artistic mind soars, the gi eater becomes the possibility of 
local or contemporary miscomprehension . Kven in the perfec- 
tion of Raphael, or in the princely ease of Rubens, we are tempted 
to miss the sublimity of the tormented sonl of Michel-angelo. 

Society has not only been inimical to individual masters, but 
has at times indulged in the wholesale destruction of schools. 
Eastern Art had also its ample measure of such catastrophes, 
'lei give an example : the conquest of China by the Mongols in 
the thirteenth century brought about a sudden downfall of 
Celestial Art from which it has never since been able to recover. 

As you are doubtless aware, the time at which this calamity 
occurred was the brightest age of Chinese painting. It was in 
the Sung dynasty, so rich in poetical and philosophical inspira- 
tions. It was the age when Confucianism had evolved a new 
meaning by the synthesis of Taoist and Buddhist ideals. It was 
the age when China was breaking through the crust of her ancient 
formalism, when political and economical experiments were tried 
on a vast scale. You will remember that the wonderful porcelain 
of China was the special product of this period of universal 
activity. 

Painting was the art of the Sung people. It is to their 
masters that the later Chinese, and we Japanese, owe the higher 
conception of the quality of the line, or the manipulation of light 
and atmosphere within the condensed area of black and white 
treatment. Before them Chinese painting was beautiful in its 
repose, with the stately completeness of the style which we see 
in the remains of early Indian or Greco-Roman painting. The 
Sung artists emancipated Asiatic art from this classicism to turn 



332 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


its gaze on the poetry of movement and seek new meanings of life 
in the intimate aspects of nature. 

Alas ! all these brilliant achievements of the Sung “illumi- 
nation” were stopped in their full career by the advent of the 
Mongol conquerors. Their barborous rule crushed the vitality 
of the native civilization, and painting had barely a chance to 
survive. Thenceforward it is a decadence relieved here and 
there by a few exceptional geniuses. It was not the Mongols 
alone who inflicted such disaster on Chinese art. The Manchus 
came again from the North to impose another alien govern- 
ment. Wars and disturbances never ceased to harass the Celes- 
tial painter. What one regards to-day as representative of 
Chinese art is but a dismal shadow compared with what it was in 
the glorious age of the Tang or Sung masters. 

The calamities imposed upon Art by the social conditions do 
not end here. Even in the days of peace we shall find that the 
so-called encouragement was by no means a boon to Art. The 
self-complacency of Society is apt to make itself believe that 
patronage is everything. On the contrary, the word “patron- 
age” is in itself an insult. We want sympathy, not condescen- 
sion. If Society really cared for good Art it would approach it 
with the respect due to all the noble functions of life. As it is, 
painting has been often called to the degrading service of Society. 
It was this that made the great Tang painter Yenrippen tell liis 
children that he would disown them if they ever learned to paint. 

Religion has been supposed to be the greatest inspiration of 
Art. It is often claimed that the loss of religions zeal caused the 
decadence of Art. But Art is a religion in itself. The mere fact 
of painting a holy subject does not constitute the holiness of the 
picture. The inherent nobleness and devotional attitude of the 
artist’s mind towards the universe, alone stamp him as the 
religious painter. It has been remarked that in the picture of 
the bamboo by Sankoku lay the whole mystery of Taoism. The 
stereotyped representations of Christian or Buddhist subjects, of 
which, alas ! there are so many, are not only a parody on religion, 
but a caricature of Art itself. Here we see another instance of 
the effects of misplaced patronage where even Religion made a 



January, 1925] a JAPANESE VIEW OF MODERN ART 


333 


hand-maiden of Art, and thus robbed it of its legitimate 
expression. 

Society, in posing as the patron . forgets that its true function 
is that of the mother. Ait was rarely allowed a place to nestle 
on its bosom. The waywardness of Art born of her innate 
individuality has caused her to be treated as a step-child. The 
palmy days of painting were only when the painters had a 
tecognized place in the social scheme. In old times painting was 
either a trade or an occupation of the religious. The great 
masters belonged to the totild it 001 to the cloister. They were 
Bellinis or Fra Angelicos. 

It must not be inferred that the conditions in the past which 
gave to both the Italian and the Japanese painters a recognized 
place in society, are to be considered ideal or perfect. I am 
simply pointing to the fact that the position of Art was not 
anomalous, at least not as it is nowadays. The difficulty at the 
present time is that Society has broken the ancient harmony, and 
oilers nothing to replace it. The Academy and the Institute are 
poor substitutes for the Medieval guilds or the Japanese monk- 
hood. — the croups which kept up the traditions and furnished 
a home for Art. 

The modern spirit, in emancipating the man exiles the 
artist. The painter of to-day has no recognized function in the 
social scheme. He may be nearer nature, but is farther from 
humanity. Have we not noticed how intensely human are the 
pictures of all the great masters ? Do we not notice how distant 
and cold are the modern productions? Art for Art’s sake is a 
wail of Bohemia. 

If we look on the surface of things, it would appear as if 
there were no time in history when Art was so honoured as it is 
to-day in Europe or America. The highest social distinctions 
are conferred on the successful painter and the amount of his 
1 enumeration is incomparably greater than that given the old 
master. Yet it is a matter of doubt whether he enjoys the foster- 
ing care and the stimulating influences which the community and 
brother-workers accorded him in the past. The very lack of 
finish and refinement in their work shows the difference between 
the new and the old. It is significant that in France where the 



334 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


relation between the artist and the community is better kept than 
elsewhere in the West, where traditions are still adhered to by 
its Institute, we find the most vital of contemporary achievements. 

We of the East often wonder whether the West cares for Art. 
The desire seems to be not for Art, but for decorations, — decora- 
tion in the sense of subjugating beauty for the sake of display. 
In the rush for wealth there is no time for lingering before a 
picture. In the competition of luxury, the criterion is not that 
the thing should be more interesting, but that it should be more 
expensive. The paintings that cover the walls are not of your 
choice, but those dictated by fashion. What sympathy can you 
expect from Art when you offer none? Under such conditions 
Art is apt to recoil either with insidious flattery or with brutal 
sarcasm. Meanwhile the true Art weeps. Do not let my expres- 
sions offend you. Japan is eager to follow in your footsteps, and 
is fast learning not to care for Art. 

The task of preserving Japanese painting against all these 
antagonistic influences is not easy. It is a matter of no small 
wonder that there has been produced within recent years a new 
school of national painting. Our hope for the future lies in the 
tenacity of the Japanese race, which has kept its individuality 
intact since the dawn of its history. Two generations cannot 
change the idiosyncrasies of twenty centuries. The bulk of the 
traditions still remains practically unharmed. 

Of late years there has been a marked tendency to a deeper 
recognition of the best in the ancient culture of Japan. We are 
glad to see in the heroic sacrifices of our people in the war that the 
spirit of old Japan is not dead. Our greatest hope is in the very 
> itality of Art itself, which enabled it to thrive in spite of the 
various adversities which it encountered in the past. A grim 
pride animates us infacing the enormous odds which modern 
society has raised against us. At the present day we feel our- 
selves to be the sole guardians of the art inheritance of Asia. The 
battle must be fought out to the very last. 


{From a posthumous publication by the Nippon Bijitsu-in\. 



DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT AMONG 
THE INDO-ARYANS 

By Prof. Sten Konow. 

Introductory Rema, ks. 

About a hundred years a^o, in the year 1820, Ram Mohan 
Roy published his Precepts of ] vsus, a highly interesting work 
which exercised 1 not inconsiderable imiuence. It dealt with the 
leading ideas underlying Christianity, and dealt with them in a 
way which showed that its author was filled with sympathy for 
the tenets of the religion of Europe. 

One would have thought that his enterprise had been hailed 
with enthusiasm by European priests and clergymen. Such was 
not however the case. The learned doctors of divinity were 
rather displeased. They did not think that Ram Mohan dealt 
with Christianity in the proper way : his view was not the orthodox 
one ; and orthodoxy has often, in most countries, been considered 
as a necessary condition for being entitled to discuss religious 
matters. 

In these lectures I am going to do just the opposite of what 
your illustrious compatriot did a hundred years ago, and I am 
venturing to do so without his deep penetration and intimate 
understanding of religious mentality. It would therefore be 
quite natural if some of you might think that my undertaking is 
a preposterous one and ask what qualifications I, a European, 
have for speaking to you about matters which are dear to your 
heart, and which you must be presumed to understand much 
better than I. I know that I run a grave risk, but still I take 
the risk, and I shall try to tell you why. 

Since I was a boy in the Norwegian University I have devoted 
most of my time to the study of Indian History and Indian 
civilisation, and I have learnt to love India and to consider her 
as my sacred home. I have tried to follow the development of 
Indian thought and Indian religions during the centuries, and I 
willingly confess that it has seemed to me to be almost impossible 



336 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

for a European to grasp the Indian mind behind all the different 
stages of that development. There appeared to be such a 
fundamental difference between many of the different forms which 
religion has taken in this vast country, that one might sometimes 
be inclined to doubt that it was the same mind which manifested 
itself in all of them. 

In the hymns of the Rigveda we see a stormy, warlike people 
praising mighty heavenly gods and coveting their favour through 
sacrifice, well knowing nevertheless that the celestial kings had 
the power of blessing as well as of withholding their favour, in 
spite of hymns and sacrifice. Then, in the Brahmanas, we seem 
to be met with quite a different mentality : the sacrifice, the yajna, 
is all-powerful, and the great gods appear to have been reduced to 
mere puppets in the great drama, where the chief actors are the 
priests who know all the details of the complicated ritual. And 
again in the Upanishads, the knowledge, the deep insight itself, 
appears as the cosmic power ruling and framing the universe and 
leading man on to eternity. 

Then follow, as a natural consequence of such a frame of 
mind, religions like Tainism and Buddhism, where it is pointed 
out that the way to bliss leads away from the multifarious life 
in which the Vedic Arvan reioieed, away from the sacrifice which 
was so highly praised in the Brahmanas, through the abnegation 
of the T to realisation of eternal truth. And again, apparentlv 
in direct opposition to this view, we find the Bhagavatas, with 
their belief in a merciful personal God, who only asks man to 
meet Him in devotional love, and then draws him into His eternal 
heaven of bliss, 

Tt would seem as if these different views cannot be reconcil- 
ed, as if there were, within Indian religions, several different 
layers without anv internal connection between them. 

But an old Rishi has told us that such is not the case : 

Eternal truth is one, hut it is reflected in many ways in the 
minds of the singers. 

He says this about his own time. He saw the differences, 
but he also saw the unity : and he leads ns to think that where we 
seem to see nothing but various tenets and beliefs, there mav vet 



January , J925] DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT 


337 


be a uniting bond, an eternal reality, of which we only perceive 
the varying formulas. 

It has gradually dawned upon ne that the old Rishi was 
right, and that his saying has a wider application, which takes us 
outside of India, and is valid at least for all the Indo-European 
nations and peoples, who are descended from the same ancestors 
but who have carved out their destinies in different circumstances 
and in different #ays. 

It really seems to me that such is the case, that the case of 
religious thought is fundamentally the same in India and in 
ancient Europe, so that tlie apparent divergences are in fact 
nothing more than secondary accretions. I even think that this 
primitive base, which takes us back to the times when we were 
all savages, may at the present day be made the foundation of a 
religious belief, which will satisfy modern man, in new and purer 
forms, adapted to the requirements of the modern age, but still 
with the old stamp which has survived the changes of the ages. 

He who is standing in the midst of a great wood, does not 
see the wood but only the trees. But from a distance the wood 
itself appears as a definite whole. And similarly, he who has 
grown up in the tenets of a definite religion, has some difficulty in 
realizing, as the ancient Rishi realized, that there is one eternal 
truth behind all religions. The historical scholar is in a better 
position, and he who follows him will perhaps acquire a deeper 
understanding of his own religion than if he does not look out- 
side its frame. And he will become more devoted to his own 
l'aith when he sees that the same deep underground is to be found 
also outside. For he will then be thoroughly convinced that it 
must be of universal validity, an eternal truth. 

That is my reason for venturing to speak to you about Indian 
religions. 1 have come to you not as a critic, but as a fellow worker 
in the search for eternal truth, in the hope that some of the results 
of my own studies may help you to find the way to your own 
hearts. 

I know that the best thing would be to examine all the 
religions of the world. But it would be impossible to do so in 
a single series of lectures, and besides, no living scholar would 
be able to do so satisfactorily. Even to try to lay open the 



338 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

fundamental conceptions of the Indo-European peoples would 
lead us too far. I have therefore chosen to limit myself to a 
historical review of the religions of Aryan India, with occasional 
remarks on connected phenomena in other parts of the Indo- 
European world. 

It follows from the restriction I have imposed upon myself 
that there are several Indian forms of religious belief which I 
am not going to touch, viz., the various conceptions and so-called 
superstitions of the non -Aryan tribes. They can only be 
satisfactorily dealt with in connection with similar beliefs in other 
parts of the world. I shall only occasionally have to draw atten- 
tion to some cases where the Aryans seem to have assimilated 
ideas and notions which originally belonged to these peoples. 

That such must have been the case is immediately apparent 
when we recall the history of the Aryans in India. They came 
into the country as foreign conquerors, and their language and 
their civilisation gradually spread over the vast continent. If 
we examine the Aryan vernaculars of India at the present day, 
it is easy to see that they are derived from the speech of the 
ancient conquerors, and even to-day we can see how this develop- 
ment is going steadily on. We have an interesting example of 
this process in our near neighbourhood. If we look into the 
language of the Santals, we shall find that a very considerable 
number of Santali words are borrowed from the Aryans. The 
grammatical system, on the other hand, has much greater power 
of resistance such Aryan words being inflected and constructed 
according to Santali Grammar. 

A similar state of things can be observed in other districts 
e.g., among the non- Ary an tribes of Nepal. We also there find 
a largely Aryan vocabulary and an essentially non-Aryan 
grammar. Now the appearance of Indo-Aryan vernaculars at 
the present day shows that they have all of them gone through a 
similar development. And the result is that we have before us a 
series of languages and speeches, which to all appearances are 
purely Aryan, but of which the grammatical system in many 
respects shows that the foreign non-Aryan element has been 
assimilated and has exercised its influence on the internal 
structure of the language. 



January, 1925] DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT 339 

Something similar must necessarily have happened during 
the long history of Indo-Aryan religions. When a people 
abandons its old beliefs and adopts r new religion, that never 
takes place in the same way as when a man gets a new dress. 
There always remain numerous traces of the old belief. The old 
gods are apparently replaced by new ones, the ancient rites by 
different ceremonies ; 111 reality, however, the change is to a 
great extent only one of names, of \ocabmary. The new gods 
are worshipped much m the same spirit as the old ones, the new 
ceremonies are based on the conceptions which were the leading 
ones in the old litual : the change of religion is not a thorough 
change of spirit. 

Among the different tribes and peoples which are, at the 
present day, to all appearances quite Aryanized, we must there- 
fore expect to find numerous features which ha 'e been inherited 
not. from the propagators of Aryan civilization, but from the old 
non-Arvan tribes which have been brought under the spell of 
Aryan religion and Aryan thought. It is often, at the present 
stage of our knowledge, all but impossible to analyse the complex 
ideas we are met with. In some cases, however, we may perhaps 
be able to point to some features or some gods, which are clearly 
not Aryan. 

It is, on the other hand, impossible to say in such cases from 
which non-Arvan element the foreign features have come. The 
population of India is not uniform, and more than one race has 
contributed to its development. There still remain, in addition 
to the Aryan proper, two ethnic elements, the Dravidians and the 
so-called Kolarians. The former have still preserved their 
ancient tongues in Southern India, but it is probable that farther 
to the north several Dravidian tribes have, in the course of time, 
abandoned their home-tongue for some Aryan speech. Such has 
apparently to a much greater extent been the case with the 
Kolarians, who are often also called Mundas. 

We would naturally infer from this state of things that 
Dravidian conceptions have contributed to the development of 
religious thought in the South, and perhaps in the North-West, 
where we find the Dravidian Brahuis settled in Belucliistan, 
while the non-Arvan elements in the North, and specially in the 



340 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


East, are due to the influence of a Kolarian population, which has 
mostly been Aryanised in the course of the centuries during which 
Aryan civilisation has spread over India. And from the fact 
that the Dravidians have to a great extent retained their old 
languages, while the Kolarians have largely abandoned their old 
speech and adopted Aryan tongues, we would be inclined to infer 
that the Dravidians had reached a higher stage of development 
than the Kolarians when the period of Aryanising set in. Both 
Dravidians and Kolarians would accordingly have to be considered 
as aboriginal inhabitants of India. 

Anthropologists and ethologists, it is true, have started a 
theory which appears, in a certain sense, a simplification. They 
speak of a Dravidian race, comprising both Dravidians and 
Kolarians, and presenting several well defined ethnic features : a 
long skull, a broad nose, thick projecting lips and wavy, 
curly hair. The type is negroid and shows some similarity with 
that of Australian aboriginals. The stronghold of the race is 
the Dravidian South and some hilly tracts in Northern India. 
The Aryan conquerors came into India from the North-West, 
where they had, in prehistoric times, formed one people with the 
ancestors of the present Iranians. The Aryan features are still 
prevalent in the Punjab and in Rajputna and southwards. 

All these seem to point to the conclusion that the Aryans, 
when they entered India, were met with the ancestors of this 
so-called Dravidian race, who would accordingly have to be 
considered as the Dasas and Dasyus spoken of in Vedic literature, 
the aboriginal inhabitants of India. 

In this connection it is worth recalling the fact that Southern 
India is, geologically speaking, the oldest part of India, older 
than the great upheavel through which the Himalayas were 
raised, and dating back into a period when the plain of Hindustan 
was lying deep down below the surface of an old ocean. This old 
Southern Continent was of a much larger extent than at the 
present day. The Western Ghats mark the old water-shed of 
the plateau, which extended far to the West, where we have, at 
the present day, the Arabian Sea. It would accordingly be 
possible that this aboriginal race was originally connected with 
other aboriginal races outside of India, e.g. in Australia. And 



January, J925] DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT 


34 * 


the Dravidians and the Kolarians would both be the descendants 
of that ancient race, thus settled in India since prehistoric times. 

Everything accordingly seems to fit, and we should seem to 
have every reason for accepting this Dravidian race-theory in its 
entirety. 

There are, however, grave objections which, in my opinion 
make it impossible to do so. The anthropological survey of the 
Indian people is not so comple1 f that we can use its results with 
full confidence, ana even as ic is, it shows that there are, within 
the Dravidian race, considerable variations in features, which 
point to the conclusion that there have, been numerous crossings 
and iruercrossings ; that the so-called Dravidian race is not a 
uniform entity but consists of more than one ethnic element. 
And these conclusions are strengthened by a consideration of the 
present day languages spoken by the members of the race. 

I have already mentioned that we have before us two linguis- 
tic families, the Dravidian, represented by languages such as 
Tamil, Tclegu and Kanarese, and the Kolarian or Munda family, 
to which Sautali, Mundari, Ho, Kurku, etc., belong. The 
Dravidian family is, at the present day, essentially restricted to 
Southern, and parts of Central India, but comprises an isolated 
language, that of the Brahuis in Beluchistan. Outside of India 
it has not been possible to point to any speech connected with 
Dravidian. Some scholars have thought that certain features in 
the languages of the Australian aboriginals remind us of 
Dravidians ; and others are inclined to think of a distant connec- 
tion with certain ancient languages of Mesopotamia. But they 
have all failed to advance convincing proofs in favour of their 
theories, and at the present stage of knowledge we are constrained 
to consider Dravidian as an isolated language. 

Kolarian tongues, on the other hand, belong to a large 
linguistic family comprising numerous languages and dialects in 
further India and on the Islands of the Indian Sea and the 
Pacific. The Austrian scholar, Pater Schmidt, has called this 
family Austric and thought it possible to point to some features 
from which he infers that these are also ethnic ties between the 
numerous tribes speaking Austric tongues. 



342 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


Now the anthropologists are at the present day disinclined 
to lay much stress on the existence of different languages within 
the tribes belonging to one and the same race, and we have several 
examples of peoples who have adopted the speech of other races. 
The linguistic history of India is a good instance of such a 
development. Still I think that most scholars will agree in the 
conclusion that, wherever we find different linguistic families 
represented within one and the same race, there must, at some 
time or other, have been intercrossings between more than one 
ethnic element. And we must, I think, infer that such has also 
been the case in India in pre-Aryan times. From the fact that 
Kolarian is connected with numerous languages outside of India, 
while no speech related to Dravidian has been traced anywhere 
else in the world, we would be inclined to draw the conclusion 
that the aboriginals of India spoke some proto-Dravidian tongue, 
while the Kolarian languages have been imported from abroad. 

But then we should expect to find a similar state of things as 
in the case of the Indo- Aryan vernaculars, which have been 
brought to India by foreign invaders, but which, in phonology 
and in grammatical principles, show numerous traces of the 
influence of the speech of the older race or races which sat in 
India before the Aryans came in. If Dravidian were once the 
language of all India, we would expect to find reminiscences of 
Dravidian grammatical principles in the Kolarian tongues. 

Such is not, however, the case. Dravidian and Kolarian 
differ fundamentally, in phonology, in vocabulary and in 
grammar, and it is therefore very unlikely that one of the two 
once prevailed over the whole territory, and that the other one 
was subsequently engrafted on the same stock. It seems to me 
that we must necessarily draw the conclusion that there are, from 
the most remote times, two different strata in the pre-Aryan 
population, represented day by the Dravidians on one side and 
the Kolarians on the other. 

But how then should we explain the apparent similarity in 
ethnic features which has led anthropologists to speak of one fairly 
uniform Dravidian race? 

I cannot see any solution of this difficulty other than the 
assumption that we have, in the pre-Aryan population of India, 



January, J925] DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT 


343 


not one, but three different ethnic elements. There was an old 
Negroid race, once settled over the South and the forests and hills 
further to the North, but which was subsequently overlaid by 
the Dravidians in + he South and by the Kolarians in the North and 
East. Both these races have to a great extent lost their ethnic 
features, just as the Brahuis in Bclu.-liistan among their Iranian 
neighbours, and both can only relatively be called aboriginal, 
though they were no doubt in India before the Aryans. 

In support uf this theory I car. only point to some some few 
details. 

The existence of i he Dravidian dialect in Beluchistan has 
often been urged in favour of the assumption that the Dravidians 
have come into India from abroad. And there is also one curious 
grammatical feature which points in the same direction. 

We know that the various tenses of the Indo-European verb 
were real tenses, with tense suffixes and personal terminations. 
In Indian vernaculars, however, these tenses have to a large extent 
been replaced by participles. This is not an Indo-European 
feature, and we are inclined to think of the influence of a common 
non-Aryan substratum. New it is a curious fact that the 
Dravidian tenses are in reality participles, and it is perhaps 
allowable to infer from this state of things, coupled with the 
evidence of Braliui, that tongues related to Dravidian were once 
spoken in the territory where the Indian and Iranian Aryans 
settled in pre-liistoric times, and that the influence of this 
substratum can be felt in the various Indo-Aryan and Iranian 
languages of the present day. 

I know very well that such indications do not prove anything. 
Still I think it worth while to draw attention to them, and so far 
as 1 can see, it is extremely likely that the Dravidians have once, 
in a remote past, immigrated into India from the North-West and 
made themselves masters of our ancient Negroid population, 
especially in the South, and in parts of the North-West. Later 
on the Aryans followed, drove the Dravidians out of the North- 
West, and gradually laid the south under the spell of their higher 
civilization. The amalgamation has been so complete that it is, 
at the present day, impossible to distinguish Dravidian and 
Aryan elements in the common civilisation. There cannot, 



344 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


however, be any doubt that the Dravidians must have had their 
share in the development. 

In this connection it is also worth while to remind you of the 
great discoveries made in Sind and the Punjab by my old friends 
R. D. Banerjee and Daya Ram Sahni. We have been told that 
traces have been found of an ancient and highly developed civilisa- 
tion, akin to that of the Sumerians and dating back 3,000 years 
B. C. It has further been stated that this civilisation seems to 
have extended into Beluchistan, and future finds may perhaps 
show that it was actually linked up with that of the Sumerians. 

Are we here faced with the remnants of an ancient Dravidian 
or rather proto-Dravidian culture which was once established from 
Mesopotamia to Sind? And why did it disappear centuries 
before the oldest Indo-Aryan monuments were constructed ? At 
the present day we can only put the questions. If this ancient 
civilisation came to an end about 3,000 years B.C. it is tempting 
to connect its disappearance with the Aryan conquest of India. 
But in that case it is extremely likely that the invaders took 
over more than one feature from the ancient culture of their 
predecessors. 

Turning now to the Kolarians, we have already seen that 
their languages are not, like those of the Dravidians, isolated 
forms of speech, but belong to a widely spread linguistic, the so- 
called Austric, family. None of the tribes speaking Austric 
tongues, possess an ancient literature. Some of these tribes, 
later on, reached a high state of development, but then the frame- 
work seems throughout to have been borrowed from Aryan India. 
We should accordingly expect to find that the Kolarians have 
only contributed primitive and savage ideas and conceptions to 
the religious development of India, that the state of things with 
them has always been as in the case of the Santals at the present 
day : their religious ideas being comparatively rude and primitive, 
and where we find higher conceptions such as the beliefs in a high- 
est God behind and above all the spirits and demons, his very 
name, Thakur, showing that we have to do with a loan from the 
Aryans. 

There are, however, some indications which point in a 
different direction. It is a curious fact that the Indian craftsman. 



January, 1925] DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT 


345 


the predecessor of the painter and the sculptor, frequently conies 
from the Non-Aryan castes. Such an important branch of 
Indian lore as the numerous popular stories and tales, which have 
played such an important role in the history of folklore all over 
the world, is by tradition principally referred to the Dekkhan, 
where we have every reason for supposing that Kolarians have 
formed a prominent part of population. The old name of Indian 
actors and of the Indian drama, vatu and , idt-aka , are no doubt of 
Aryan origin. But the actors nrjst have something to do with 
the non-Aryan nut-ewti of ihc present day, and in the ancient 
ritual a Svtdra was introduced as tlie seller of senia in an important 
ceremony. 

We get the impression that some of the higher branches of 
Indian civilisation, such as have something to do with art, may 
partly have their origin in non-Aryan, and permanently Kolarian, 
Arts and Crafts. 

And quite recently, the famous French scholar, Sylvain 
Levi, whose learning and whose penetrating mind you have learnt 
to admire here in Visva-bharati, has put together numerous facts, 
which already point to the conclusion that there was once, before 
the Aryan conquest, and probably also before the Dravidian 
invasion, an ancient civilisation, extending over a vast territory, 
and created bv Austric tribes, and that India must have been one 
of the strongholds of this civilisation. 

At the present day that civilisation has disappeared, having 
been modified and absorbed by the Aryans. But it seems to be 
necessary to assume that the ancestors of the Kolarians, whom 
the Aryan conquerors fought and subdued, were not barbarians 
but had reached a comparatively high state of development. And in 
that case they must have had a large share in the building up of 
Indian civilisation and also in the religious history of the country. 
It is not, however, possible to draw attention to details and 
separate features which should be considered to be of Kolarian 
origin. We can only say that there must be several such, and 
that they are most likely to be found in the ideas and notions which 
have framed the daily worship of the Indians during the centuries. 

The Aryans have been the leaders in Indian civilization and 
Indian thought, and the vast religious literature of India is almost 



346 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

entirely due to them. The historical student will have to base 
his conclusions mainly on that literature. An analysis of the 
popular ideas and conceptions which have not been reduced to 
writing, can only be made with reference to the state of things at 
the present day, and for the past we are restricted to drawing 
general conclusions. Moreover, even this popular side of 
religious development has, at the present day, received such a 
strong Aryan stamp, that we are easily led to believe that it is 
chiefly derived from Aryan sources. 

In my present lectures I shall, therefore, as I have already 
said, only try to follow the development of the Aryan element in 
Indian religions. The remarks which I have just made show, 
however, that it is necessary to be on one’s guard, and I cannot 
hope to be able to avoid mistakes. The history of the religious 
development of the Indo- Aryans is not, and should not be. a 
review of unbroken growth from one single seed. It must also 
comprise the numerous crossings which have taken place and 
sometimes largely modified the picture, and we need not be 
perturbed if we occasionally make mistakes in our analysis, for 
such mistakes are not fatal. 



THE ORIGIN OF CASTE 

A Study of Moden Views. 

By Kshitishpras ad Ch attopadhy ay . 

It has been remarked bj T a distinguished student of Indian 
ethnology that, from the nature of the ca e, the origin of caste 
is an insoluble problem. I mention this hopeful prophecy at the 
very beginning, in order that the A of dry character of this paper 
may be the more leadily excused. Moreover, in this particular 
case, the available facts run into volumes, and a fair examination 
and co-ordination of them all would form v.n essay too long, 
perhaps, for even students of anthropology to read through. 

The earliest scientific hypotheses put forward about caste are' 
to be found in the Hindu law-books, and perhaps in the most 
elaborate form in the Institutes of Manu. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, the terms Vaisya, Kshatriya, Brahmana and, still more, 
the term Slid it, are not sufficiently explained therein to enable 
us to follow the description given in terms of these. Further, no 
attempt was made, probably because it was not possible, to include 
within these theories, the social organisation of the whole of India. 

All later theories in the law-books are open to the first charge, 
and also, to some extent undoubtedly, to the condemnation brought 
forward by modern scholars, that a good pari is drawn from 
imagination without a sufficient basis of fact. Though I personal- 
ly believe that a good deal of what is at present unintelligible and 
seemingly unreal in these early speculations will probably, at 
some future date, be capable of elucidation, and will then throw 
much light on the early migrations and fusion of races, yet it 
must be admitted that, for the time being, they have to be left 
on one side, and that the problem may best be tackled by beginning 
directly with the facts available in modern times. 

I shall therefore pass on to modern views of caste, with such 
comments as seem needful in the different cases. 

The two earliest attempts to explain caste on the basis of the 
existing state of affairs were made by Sir Denzil Ibbettson in the 
Punjab, and Mr. C. J. Nesfield in the United Provinces. 



348 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Magh , 1331 

Ibbettson studied the facts available in his province, and he 
summed up his conclusions about the origin of caste in that area 
as follows : 

(1) At first there was the tribal division common to all 

primitive societies. 

(2) As civilization grew up, the guilds based on hereditary 

occupation came into existence. 

(3) The priests, the Brahmans, in order to preserve their 

prestige and power, insisted on the hereditary 
nature of their occupation and the necessity of 
honouring all persons of priestly descent. 

This they supported with all the weight of religion, 
elaborating from the Hindu ideas of cosmogony, a 
purely artificial set of rules regulating marriage 
and intermarriage, and declaring certain kinds of 
food and occupations as pure, impure, or in- 
different. 

They thus acquired a degree of power unparalleled else- 
where. 

Ibbettson suggests, in short, that after the guild system had 
developed in India, with the progress of arts and industries, the 
hereditary nature of occupations was utilised by the Brahmans 
for their own advantage. He is of opinion that, naturally, the 
descendants of Brahmans soon grew too numerous to be all priests, 
but as they did not wish to relinquish the exceptional privilege 
and honour they obtained as priests, they made community of 
descent instead of occupaition, the test of rank. In one word, 
instead of only the priests ranking as Brahmans, all 
descendants of Brahmans ranked as priests, although they 
might be only nominally, or not at all, connected with sacred 
duties. 

This unusual achievement is considered by Ibbettson to have 
been possible for the Brahmans because of the specially high 
position they held. He is however careful to explain that he does 
not mean that the Brahmans invented the principle which they 
thus turned to their own purpose ; on the contrary the rudiments of 
it are found in all primitive societies and it was only the extra- 
ordinary power gained by the Brahmans that led their teaching, 



January, IQ25] 


THE ORIGIN OF CASTE 


349 


probably almost unconsciously, to take the form that tended most 
effectually to preserve such power unimpaired. 

This process, Ibbettson concludes, was quite a slow one and 
the provisions in the Mann Samhita for the elevation of castes 
in the social scale, show definitely how rules originally elastic 
gradually hardened into rigid bars. 

One of the difficulties of this hy pothesis is, to explain how 
the Brahmans, or priests, at all acquired such great power in 
India as to enable rhera thus t~ create caste, — a power never 
enjoyed by priesthood elsewhere in the world. 

Priests have been faced wHh the similar difficulty of growing 
numbers in other places as well, but nowhere else have they been 
able to avail themselves of such device to any such extent as in 
India. Thus in Kashmir and in Nepal, the Buddhist clergy 
married and w r ere forced to follow secular pursuits to meet the 
needs of family life. Consequently they formed a group compar- 
able to the hypothetical group of Brahmans of Ibbettson. Yet, 
with the example of India before them, they did not succeed in 
forming caste among the mass of the people. 

Similar is the case of the Lamas of Tibet. Although as 
celibate monks they do not form quite a good parallel, still it is 
well known that Tibet is one of the most priest-ridden countries, 
and the Lamas have exceptional influence. Yet, although the 
unrestricted admission of novices to monasteries has rendered the 
struggle for existence very keen among the priests, no attempt 
has beer, made to form a special caste of the relatives of Lamas, 
within which the priesthood should be confined. 

The second defect of Ibbettson’s theory is, that it does not 
give any explanation of the curious rules about purity and im- 
purity of certain kinds of food, or of the restrictions about taking 
food of a particular kind from others. To suggest that these are 
purely fantastic customs adopted by the Brahmans, is merely an 
admission of failure to indicate the solution. 

The other early theorist on caste, Mr. Nesfield, was very 
much impressed by what he called the fundamental unity of the 
Indian race. He considered the Indians as homogeneous physical- 
ly, showing that the handful of Aryan invaders had been absorbed 



350 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

in the vast mass of the aboriginal population, leaving no mark 
on their appearance. 

Nesfield, therefore, suggested that caste had nothing to do 
with race, and was developed merely because of the gradual evolu- 
tion of arts and industries. He pointed out that at the bottom 
of the social scale in the United Provinces come the primitive 
tribes, the Tharus, Kangars and others, whom he considers to 
be the last remnants of the undiluted aboriginal Indian savages. 
Next come hunters like the Baheliyas, and fishermen such as the 
Dhimars. Then follow the pastoral Gadariyas and Aliirs, and 
finally the great mass of agriculturists and artisans, with the 
lordly Rajput and the priestly Brahman crowning the whole 
structure. 

The artisans were also graded in a similar way amongst them- 
selves, the basket-worker holding the lowest place, with the 
weaver, potter and oilman in the middle, and the metal-workers, 
tailors and confectioners in the highest group. 

Apart from the fact that Nesfield sometimes jumbles up in a 
single grade .such curious combinations as Kavastha, Bhangi or 
sweeper, Bhat or bard-cum-genealogist, and Nai or barber, great 
difficulties have to be faced by any such evolutionary hypothesis. 

First of all, it is acknowledged on all hands that original 
inventions of such systems are not so prolific in different parts 
of the world. 

Even if, however, in spite of its unique character, such an 
independent origin be granted, the question arises that, as the 
creation of these grades was necessarily slow, and hence the chance 
of limiting them to definite groups small, whence arose any 
gradations at all ? Why were not such grades formed elsewhere 
in the world ? Further why are they accompanied by such curious 
rules of marriage and commensality and also of taboos ? 

All these questions Nesfield answers by the old, old retort 
that the Brahmans invented them to increase their power. This 
again amounts to nothing but an admission of failure to solve the 
problem. 

Apart from this, there is a fundamentally wrong assumption 
in Nesfield’s hypothesis. He assumes the occupations followed 



January, 1925] 


THE ORIGIN OF CASTE 


351 


by the castes in order of social ascendancy, to form a series of 
increasing complex form. 

This is however highly doubtful. Weaving with looms, 
furnished with heddles and reeds, and the making of pottery with 
wheels, certainly came to be invented, at least introduced, in the 
ancient countries of which the past history is fairly well-known, 
after copper working had come into vogue, or at most, at about 
the same time; yet in the U. P. the Kumhar (potter) and Tati 
(weaver) rank below the Ta not (coppersmith). Further this 
theory cannot be extended to any other province of India, as the 
different artisans rank differently in the several provinces. And, 
in order to be defensible, the hypothesis would have to be 
formulated that the order of inventions was greatly altered in the 
several areas of Bengal, Bombay and Madras. 

Therefore, while it may be admitted that some of the less 
complex and comparatively bumble occupations were known in 
India earlier than the more developed arts, yet such a statement 
cannot be accepted as a whole, and certainly does not explain the 
origin of '"aste. 

The next worker in the field was Sir Herbert Rislev, the 
Superintendent of the Ethnological Surveys. The difficulty of 
explaining the uniqueness of caste in India was suggested by him 
to be due to the fact that in India alone were the Aryans brought 
into close contact with an unequivocally black race. The sense 
of difference of color, which plays such an undoubtedly large part 
in the relations of men, was perhaps even keener among these 
ancient fair-skinned invaders. 

Risley points out that the opponents of the Vedic people are 
called by them black, noseless, coarse featured, of low stature, and 
so on. He suggests that this gives a fairly accurate anthropolo- 
gical definition of the Dravidian tribes of to-day. He adds that 
this repulsion due to physical differences, was supplemented by 
disagreements of customs, tribal structure and religion. The 
conclusion is obvious that the motive principle of Indian caste is 
to be sought in the antipathy of the higher race for the lower, of 
the fair- skinned Aryan for the darker Dravidian. 

Risley meets one objection, which immediately occurs, that 
while the principle in question may possibly apply to the major 



352 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


groups, it fails to account for the vast network of intricate divisions 
which the caste system now presents ; for the differences of type 
which distinguish the various trading, agricultural, pastoral, and 
fishing castes from each other are hardly sharp enough to have 
brought the sentiment of race antipathy into play. 

Risley’s reply to this is that the numerous smaller groups 
came into being under the influence of fiction. He goes on to 
illustrate and explain what he means, by giving examples from 
Bengal. He tries to show that in this province the continual 
contact of Aryan and Dravidian has created a series of endogamous 
groups which may roughly be classified as Ethnic, Provincial or 
Linguistic, Territorial or Local, Functional or Occupational, 
Sectarian and Social. In the first of these classes, the race basis 
is palpable and acknowledged. The others have been generated 
by the fiction that men who speak a different language, who dwell 
in a different distiict, who worship different gods, who observe 
different social customs, who follow a different profession, or 
practice the same profession in a slightly different way, must 
be of a fundamentally different race. 

As has been pointed out by Senart, Risley has arrived, after 
various detours, finally to the same old Hindu theory of different 
degrees of intermixtures and an infinite number of permutations 
thereof. 

It has been pointed out by Sanskrit scholars that Risley did 
not properly understand the import of the Vedas and the Smritis 
and unduly emphasised the condemnation of colour by the so- 
called Arjmns. I shall here state merely two of the pieces of 
evidence that have been brought forward against this view. 
First of all, these Aryans could legally take non- Aryan wives, for 
which there were definite rules; secondly the issue of these 
marriages after inter-marrying with the Aryans for seven genera- 
tion could become pure Aryans. It need hardly be emphasised 
that such rules do not betray an extraordinary horror of the 
hypothetical black aborigines. 

I should also like to point out the fact that, in Africa, where 
men of the fair-skinned races did penetrate into the interior 
in early times, caste did not grow up. If sharp physical 



January, 1925] 


THE ORIGIN OF CASTE 


353 


differences created caste, one would suppose that the Caucasian 
type would find a sharper contrast in the Negroid in Africa than 
in a hypothetical sharply contrasted Hack race in India. More- 
over, evidence from authropometry shows definitely that the 
contrast in India was certainly not so great as Risley would make 
out. 

It will have been noted that the three important theories of 
caste come from workers in three different provinces of North 
India . 

Ibbettson, Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, was most 
impressed by the elasticity ot caste bonds in that Western 
province. On the basis of his study of the growth of the 
living organism in that place, he considered that he had found the 
solution. The mistake was that he did not take into account the 
force of centuries of tradition, and also the extraordinary jumble 
of cultures in the area where he worked. 

Nesfield, from an examination of the somatic characteristics 
of the people of the U. P., was led to formulate his hypothesis of 
the fundamental unity of race in India, and from this very 
naturally followed a single scheme of evolution. 

Risley, who worked in Bengal mainly, was early struck by 
the undoubted intermixture of races that had taken place in this 
region and, impressed by what he observed, he sought to over- 
come the difficulty of uniqueness of caste by means of this fact 
alone. 

The next worker in the field, M. Senart had the advantage 
of studying carefully all these three different view points, and not 
being a worker in India itself, he was not obsessed by the particular 
speciality of any province. In addition, a profound knowledge of 
European lore was brought by him to bear on the problem. 

As a result of his investigations, Senart suggests that the 
uniqueness of the development of caste in India was the result of 
physical isolation. Parallel developments, he points out, had 
occurred in Greece and Rome. He shows that the curiae in Rome, 
the phratry of Greece, and the gotra of India closely correspond. 
The bounds of exogamy existed, and membership of phratries, 
as of gotras, was limited to offsprings of families belonging to the 



354 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Magh , 1331 


group. He also shows that occupation was to some extent 
hereditary in these places. 

The strange rules barring commensality likewise find 
parallels elsewhere. The food cooked at the sacred fire symbolised 
the unity of the family, and the religious sentiment attached to 
it is the explanation of the rules of the table. The expulsion of 
an offender from caste by solemnly pouring out water from his 
vessel after filling it, and the modern stopping of hukka and 
pani are similar to the interdiction of fire and water in Rome, 
while the body that wields sway, the panchayet, was undoubtedly 
parallelled in the ancient councils of tribes in Greece, Rome, 
Germany and elsewhere. 

After pointing out these parallels, Senart passes on to suggest 
reasons why the national unity which finally absorbed the different 
groups in Europe, was not attained in India. Here he takes 
account of the possible factors suggested by previous workers, and 
adds some of his own. 

His hypothesis is that the Aryan invaders of India had 
already in them the germs of the caste system. To this basic 
factor were added the facts of hostile contact with a race of 
different colour and physique and of inferior culture. This 
opposition, the consequent need of security, the contempt of the 
vanquished, — all these increased the native arrogance of the 
invaders and reinforced the several beliefs and prejudices which 
guarded from intermixture the sections into which they were 
divided. 

Further, the vastness of the country tended to separate the 
groups and to multiply divisions. As difficulties diminished, and 
a more settled form of social life grew up, the need for artisans 
was sharply felt everywhere, and these being in wide demand, 
were widely scattered. In the pursuit of their profession they 
had to come in intimate contact with the aboriginal people and 
some intermixture undoubtedly resulted. As there was no 
strong political power to wield the whole into a cohesive mass, 
the fissiparous tendency proceeded unchecked. 

When later on some kind of examination was instituted about 
purity of descent, the priests who, by reason of the privileges 
they had gained owing to the growing complexity of rites and 



January, 1925] 


The origin oe caste 


355 


ceremonies, liad been able better to conserve their purity of 
descent, claimed and obtained the highest rank, albeit sharing 
it with the royal races. The artisans, originally of the same 
stock but now under the ban of intermixture, sank in position, 
and finally became still more diluted with aboriginal blood. 

It must be admitted that Sen art’s theory, as it stands, is not 
lightly to be gainsaid. The factors suggested undoubtedly 
played an important part in the evolution of caste. The main 
defect of his theory however that it has not taken account of 
the details ; and further, although ihc suggestion about the Aryans 
coming with the germ of a caste sysLcm, and this latter embryo 
developing because of the environment, is very tempting, there 
are certain facts which stand in the way. 

In Senart’s hypothesis two things are assumed : 

(1) That the .Aryans — in the sense of Vedie people — were 

highly superior to the people they found in India, 
represented by jungle tribes at the present time. 

(2) That the caste structure is essentially the same all over 

India. 

Both these assumptions are unjustified. 

If an invading people come into a country in fairly large 
numbers, as the Vedie Aryans are postulated to have done, some- 
thing very like uniform pressure is brought to bear upon the 
people, in front as well as on the flanks of the forward wave of 
migration. In such case what happens is, that the earlier people 
are driven into what might be termed safety pockets, — places in 
the country which allow of a fair livelihood, but which are difficult 
of access to invaders. In India, there are some such places and 
the chief among them in North India, are Nepal, Assam, and 
Chota Nagpore though the last has to be distinguished from the 
other two as not being suitable for comfortable existence with only 
a primitive knowdedge of arts and industries. 

If, therefore, the people of the plains were driven out by the 
incoming Aryan tide, we should expect to find remnants of that 
culture in these places. Investigation shows that such is actually 
the case, but it also definitely brings out that their culture were 
not so inferior as has been made out by Senart and others, and 



356 THE VISVA-BIIARATl QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

also that these earlier people were themselves an intermixture 
with some fine-featured race. 

Physical anthropology does not count definite quantitative 
data from Nepal, nor to any large extent from Assam, but so far 
as the careful observation of trained observers go, they agree that 
the high castes in these places have undoubtedly Caucasian 
features, although Mongolian admixtures occur. The character- 
istics of their culture show that they passed through India. 

We have therefore to admit that the so-called Aryans were 
preceded by a fine-featured, cultured race in India. Now, the 
remnants of this migration into Nepal and Assam show definitely 
that, while guilds were developed in their society, and the cultur- 
ed invaders tended to preserve their racial purity, caste did not 
evolve. Secondly the peculiar rules about commeusality are 
absent to a large extent. 

This much at least follows that a fine-featured, cultured race 
could penetrate into India, diffusing their civilisation and inter- 
mixing to some extent with the people, yet although the country 
was vast and the aborigines black, caste as an institution was not 
evolved. It has therefore to be admitted that while all these 
factors certainly tend to help the crystallisation of caste, yet they 
are not sufficient for its initiation. 

The second assumption of Senart was, that the caste organisa- 
tion is fairly uniform all over India. But actual examination 
shows that the structure in Bengal is almost the reverse of that in 
the U.P., while Orissa bears no direct relation to either. If the 
different linguistic areas of Madras are now examined, the con- 
fusion passes all limits. 

One conclusion, however, emerges definitely from an analysis 
of the social structure in different parts of India. It is that there 
were migrations of culture to India before the Vedic Aryans came, 
and that, roughly at least, these correspond to the culture 
remnants found in Nepal and Assam. 

It is not possible to indicate within the limits of this paper all 
the points of agreement I have been able to detect. I should like 
however to point out two facts : 

(il That the food and drink used by one at least of the 



January, 1925] 


THE ORIGIN OF CASTE 


357 


earlier migrations differed distinctively from that of 
the later Aryan migration. 

(2) That the rules of marriage were comparatively simple 
and elastic. Divorce was easy and widow marriage 
permitted. That among the common people whom 
they influenced the relation of the sexes before 
marriage was similar to the present state of affairs 
in the Munda and Oraon community, conception 
being usually ft 'lowed Wv marriage. 

I therefore suggest that the inception of caste was due to the 
hostile contact of a later cultured people, presumably the Vedic 
Aryans, with an earlier cultured race. In the struggle for 
existence that ensued , each g rf mp sought to increase its man-power 
by enlisting tlie aboriginal population as far as possible on its 
side.* Analysis of the cultures show that while one had the 
advantage of earlier settlement and greater experience of the 
country and its peoples, the other balanced it to a large extent by 
greater numbers and their superior knowledge of certain arts. 

In order to influence and enlist the comparatively primitive 
aborigines, it was necessary to benefit them to some extent; for 
this reason, and also to utilise them properly, they had to he taught 
some at least of the arts that were brought by the migrants. It 
was, at the same time equally important to prevent a leakage of 
such knowledge to the opposite camp and to the people in general. 
The general sentiment of contempt that a half civilised people feel, 
after contact with a superior culture, for their own uncultured 
brethren, probably supplied a powerful check. But the most 
effective limit was found in : 

(1) The wide difference of food used by the rival peoples, 

the same substance being taboo to one people, and 
indifferent to the other. 

(2) The difference in the religious belief and the gods 

worshipped. 

(3) The opposite character of the relations of the sexes 

among the two sets of people, one tending towards 

*Cf . the rival solicitation of the “masses” by the different political parties of the 
day. — Ed. 



358 


THE VISVA-BHARAT1 QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


easy union, the other towards immolating the 
widow with her deceased husband. 

I suggest that these were consciously or unconciously 
moulded into rigid bars about the groups that were formed. The 
vastness of the country, as Senart opines, led to scattering ; con- 
sequently there was greater difficulty of self-preservation, adding 
thereby to the stringency of the safeguards. On this hypothesis 
the smaller local caste groups (sub-castes) were the first to grow, 
being later classed as one caste on the common basis of occupation 
and tradition. 

Such a multiple-migration hypothesis of caste overcomes the 
difficulty of diversity in the social structure in different parts of 
India. For on analysis it appears that there were two to three 
distinct culture migrations in most parts of India, before history 
proper begins ; now, although caste might originate by hostile 
contact between two cultures, there was no reason why the same 
migrants should triumph in every part of the country. 

Further the third migration might have brought in other 
new elements. Consequently, the problem is reduced to 
analysing the different social structures in different parts of India 
and reconstructing therefrom the different culture migrations. 

So far as I have been able to do this, I have not met with any 
insuperable difficulty. Obviously, however, such an analysis 
cannot be attempted within the present limits. 



January, IQ25 ] 


THE SONG BIRD 


359 


THE SONG BIRD. 

By Rabindkanatii. 

Wucn the evening steals on western waters, 

Thrills the air with wings of homeless shadows, 
When the sky is crowned with star-gemmed silence 
And 4 he dreams dance on the deep of slumber ; 
When the lilies lose their faith in morning 
And in panic close their hopeless petals, 

There’s a bird which leaves its nest in secret, — 
Seeks its song in trackless paths of heaven. 



CULTURE AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS 

By Count Hermann Keysereing. 


There has been much talk in Europe during the last decades, 
about the opposition between Culture and Civilisation ; in parti- 
cular in Germany, where Oswald Spengler’s famous book “The 
Decline of the West” is almost entirely built up upon the assump- 
tion of this opposition. Culture in the real sense, as it was 
manifested in ancient Babylonia, India and China, in ancient 
Greece and the Europe of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and 
the Rocco periods, and Civilization in the modern, purely external 
and technical sense, are indeed two very different things. There 
is no doubt either, that in the modern world, the former is no 
longer to be found except in small groups, which count ever less 
and less in the movement of history. 

No wonder, therefore, that many of the best in our days feel 
frankly inimical towards civilization. Unfortunately, however, 
repudiation or negation has never arrested the process of Destiny. 
Technical progress, the soul of this civilization, is nothing less 
than mankind’s fate for the next centuries to come. Fate can 
only be overcome by reaching a plane beyond the range of its 
possible action. It is about this that I venture to put forward, 
in the following, a few suggestions. 

What does the word Culture really mean? It means the 
correspondence of the inside and the outside of life in this sense, 
that all the forms of a given existence are the immediate expres- 
sion of a living spirit. This short definition includes every- 
thing that can be stated about the essential meaning of Culture : 
viz., that every cultural manifestation is tied to a living past and 
in so far implies responsibility ; that it is symbolical in the two- 
fold sense, that anything “cultural,” on the one hand, gives, 
expression to Significance, “and on the other, incarnates the latter 
in the forms of a corresponding image ; that it is exclusive and 
therefore strictly confined, like any organism, and belongs to a 
unified whole which is being mirrored by every single manifesta- 
tion. 



January, 1Q25] CULTURE AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS 


361 


“Culture” is really a spiritual organism. If this be so, then 
it is clear from what moment onwards external civilization, which 
can very well mean culture, is such no longer : when its expres- 
sion does no longer mean anything inward ; and since the latter is 
manifestly the case within the vvhole modern westernized world, 
it is undoubtedly true, as Spengler and many others maintain, 
that we are living in an age of civilization as opposed to an age 
of culture. 

There are many who rente this state of decay — for such 
indeed it is— -tc our “progress” ah the technical and mechanical 
sense. And this much is certain : ine unlimited applicability 
of anv product of Technique, unlimited in the sense of space, 
time and any other bonds contradicts the very spirit of real 
culture, a maniiesation which is possible everywhere at all times, 
canno: represent an immediate expression of Spirit. And in so 
far Technical progress undoubtedly leads, not to cultural accom- 
plishment and consummation, but to barbarizatiou. 

Wherever mechanical civilization spreads, no life-form of 
the pre-technical age resists in the long run ; it is bound to die 
out. This is proved to-day even by those exclusive sets and 
classes in France and England whose consolidated culture 
succeeded until recently in resisting disintegration : for any one 
to whom cinema and radio, racing, aviating and globetrotting, 
in their negation of all limits of time and space, are matters of 
course, it is simply impossible to remain bound by and to forms 
of life, whose very possibility depends on narrow internal as 
well as external confines. 

The same will appear more and more in the East also; it 
will appear there more strikingly still because the contrast 
between the Indian caste system with all its restrictions, or the 
Chinese code of rites with all its complications and intricacies 
(to point out but two examples), and the ways of modern life, is 
much greater than any contrast between the cultured West of old 
and the merely civilized West of to-day. Ancient culture is 
dying fast all over this planet ; it is dying irresistibly. And 
there can be no doubt that this is due to technical progress more 
than to anything else. 



362 THE VIS V A-BH ARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

The recognition of this fact calls forth, as a typical reaction, 
two different attitudes. 

Some people — they are particularly numerous in the European 
countries ruined by the War— deem that culture in the old inward 
sense is no longer possible upon Earth, or at any rate upon its 
Western hemisphere. Others — these are more frequent in the 
East — expect salvation from a return to pre-technical conditions. 
It is no use arguing with the first named, for if a man does not 
believe in something, he assuredly does not want it either, with 
any important part of his soul, and he therefore cannot be made 
to realize his error. 

The attitude of the other groups could be right, if the pro- 
cesses of nature were reversible, — if mankind in particular could 
go back upon any attained state at all. But this it cannot; all 
historical processes are essentially irreversible. And this means 
in the case of our particular argument : never more, whatever 
idealists may hope, will machinery vanish from this world ; the 
machine will go on gaining victory after victory until it has 
conquered every single spot on earth. 

The chief reason for this is the fact, which apparently has 
so far failed to strike most thinkers, that technical achievement 
means nothing extraordinary, but on the contrary, a manifesta- 
tion of the obvious. As all mathematical truths, however 
difficult to grasp they may seem, are essentially obvious, for they 
express the intrinsic laws which rule both body and mind, just 
so are even the most astonishing technical performances. This 
alone explains why they appeal most to the least cultured classes 
and races. The United States first became mechanised of all 
countries, because at the beginning of the process the Americans 
were, of all Westerners, the most uncultured ; in the same way, 
extreme mechanisation of life meets to-day with the least inner 
resistance in bolshevic Russia. 

The true significance of the facts became first clear to me on 
that memorable day when I discovered that my little son, then 
three years old, who shows no particular disposition for 
mechanics, understands perfectly the real nature of a motor-car, 
which to me has remained a sort of uncanny mystery. Mechanics 



January, iQ2s] CULTURE AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS 363 

belong to the obvious side of things, just as mathematics do. The 
question is merely to realise thur obviousness. 

It. is, of course, not everybody's business to do this indepen- 
dently, or for the first time. But then invention is in no case 
everybody’s business. The ODviousness of a truth can only be 
gauged by the percentage of people who realize it at once, when 
it is put before their eyes. Now the technical achievements of 
our age appear surely obvious to a greater number than did any 
cultural manifestations since the ace of stone. There will soon 
be no human being on earth of mere than ape-like intelligence, 
who will not consider the Radio as simple a thing as the 
Multiplication-table. 

I think this short train of thought must have refuted, once 
and for all, the arguments of all those who pieach renouncement 
of technical progress It is absolutely impossible to stop an 
evolution which meets with the understanding approval of all but 
an infinitesimal minority. And it is just as impossible to stop 
this evolution in the East as it is in the West, notwithstanding 
all temperamental differences. If Buddhism and Islam became 
the creed of millions in their day, because their gospel brought 
with it the abolishment of many of the social disabilities which 
prevented the rise of the majority to better conditions of life, the 
same will be true a thousand times more in this irreligious age. 

But the same train of thought also shows that the inevitable 
need not imply a cultural catastrophe. If technical achievements 
belong to the essentially obvious, then they will also be thought 
of as obvious before long ; and this will necessarily lead to the 
result that they will soon no longer command any particular 
interest. 

Even to-day they do not mean, in Europe at any rate, any- 
thing like what they meant twenty years ago. Their quality of 
surprise has gone ; it will never be born again, even if it should 
become possible one day to bring down the moon by some technical 
freak, for on principle everything that is possible henceforth on 
this line can be foreseen. As to the practical side of the matter — 
there is no doubt whatever that the most astonishing of our latest 
technical performances will meet with the same fate as did the 
bycicle. While in the beginning there were but gentlemen 



364 


THE VISVA-BHARAT1 QUARTERLY 


[ Magh , 1331 


riders, this vehicle is now no longer a means at all to gain distinc- 
tion, and where this is not the case, ambition finds no food. 

Now what will happen when all mechanical inventions will 
have become obvious and uninteresting in the same sense and 
degree ? They will mean to the mind the same and nothing more 
than did previously the material out of which the engineer manu- 
factured his engines, which means, in its turn, that they will 
have become the basis, unnoticed in itself, of all future thoughts 
and desires. Then the machine world will mean to practical men 
exactly the same and no more, as the world of nature did in the 
pre-technical age. Well, from this moment the opposition 
between Culture and Civilization, which is valid enough to-day, 
will have become obsolete, for the civilized condition will then 
have become the basis of all human life Then the level of all 
possible problems will appear transposed. And this everywhere 
in the upward and not in the downward sense. 

There can be no doubt whatsoever that man as the Lord of 
Nature is a greater being than man as Nature’s subject. And 
then culture in the previously determined sense of ‘ ( life-form as 
immediate expression of a spirit” which has become impossible 
io-day, will become possible once again, and in a more all- 
embracing and more encompassing sense than ever before. Then 
spirit will have become able to express itself through the medium 
of technically conquered nature, as originally as it did in the 
days of old Greek or Chinese culture. 

In this direction lies the salvation from mechanisation and 
technicism, so far as such salvation is required. There is no 
other salvation possible nor even conceivable. He who wishes 
for culture in the consecrated sense can henceforward aspire to 
such only on the above described higher plane of nature. On 
the other hand, it is undoubtedly possible to build up a new 
culture on these new foundations, for this pre-supposes only that 
the achievements of technique have really become obvious to the 
mind, and a matter of course to the impulses and instincts. In 
this short article I could not do more than just state the problem. 

Those who want to know from me in what definite terms it 
must be formulated, in the East on the one hand, and on the 
other in the West, and to what new forms of life its solutions 



January, 1925] CULTURE AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS 


365 


must lead in both cases, should read my “Travel Diary of a 
Philosopher” which is now available in an excellent English 
translation ;* if the}" know German *ney should also read my book 
“Schoepferische Erkenntnis”f . Unless I am very much 
mistaken there is a danger that many of the best minds of the 
East should misjudge the situation and work foi the regeneration 
of mankind on a plane of existence which ihe process of history 
has left behind everywhere and for evermore. 

There is no European alive who admires the undent wisdom 
of the East more than I do. M} School of Wisdom at Darmstadt 
is again and again being attacked for the very reason that I am 
supposed to transplant Indian recognitions into the West. But 
as 1 know life as it is to-day all over the world, I feel absolutely 
certain that even the Truth of old India must incarnate in a new 
bod}-, corresponding to present-day conditions, in order to live 
again. Idealism is a very wonderful thing, but without common 
sense it never leads to perfection. And the first thing that 
common sense demands in all cases is to take and face given con- 
ditions as they really are. 

•Published in 1027, simultaneously by Messrs. Jonathan Cape in Loudon, 
ii, Gower Street, and Harcourt- Brace % Co in New York, 383, Madison Avenue. 

t Published by Otto Reichl, Darmstadt. 


EDITOR’S NOTE. 

Wc would remind Count Keyserling of the warning of Mr. A. J. Penty : 

Of course this system (of the unrestricted use of machinery and mechanical 
methods) cannot last. Its own activities are generating toxins which are poisoning 
it. For while, on the one hand, it is giving rise to wholesale incompetence (of 
individuals) , on the other, by destroying all charm in work and turning it into hated 
toil, it has roused a spirit of class hatred that expresses itself in revolt. Finally 
it uses up natural resources at such a ruinous rate that, apart from any other con- 
sideration, the limit of exhaustion must soon be reached. 

And the message of M. Romain Rolland : 

We know the material ties that we'gh on twentieth century F,urope. the crushing 
determination of economic conditions that hem it in; we know that centuries of 
passions and systematised error have built a crust about it which the light cannot 
pierce. But we also know what miracles the spirit can work. 

Both published in the Editorial Article of our last July number. 

Neither of these thinkers belong to the East. 




366 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


THE OPPOSITES : IDEALISM AND PRAGMATISM. 

Every man, who does anything in the world, works by the force given 
to him by ideals, — whether his own pr others’ — which he may or may not 
recognise, but in whose absence, nevertheless, he would be impotent. The 
smaller the ideals, the fewer, the less recognised, the less is the work done, 
the progress achieved ; on the other hand, when ideals enlarge themselves, 
when they become forceful, widely recognised, when different ideals enter 
the field, clash and communicate force to each other, then the race rises 
to its great periods of activity and creation. 

Wherever and whenever the mere practical man abounds and dis- 
courages by his domination the idealist, in that age pr country is the least 
valuable work done for humanity. On the other hand when the idealist is 
liberated, when the visionary abounds, then the executive worker, also 
uplifted, finds at once both orientation and energy, and accomplishes things 
which he would otherwise have rejected as a dream or a chimera. 

Often enough, even when these two different types of men work in the 
same cause, and one more or less fulfils the other, they distrust, dislike and 
repudiate each other. To the practical worker, limiting himself by patent 
forces and actual possibilities, the idealist who made his work possible 
seems an idle dreamer or a trouble come fanatic ; to the idealist, the 
practical man, even while he is realising the first steps towards the ideal, 
seems a coarse spoiler of the divine work, almost an enemy. 

And times there are, ages of stupendous effort and initiative, when the 
gods seem no longer satisfied with this tardy and fragmentary working, 
when the ideal constantly breaks through the material walls of the practical 
life. Innumerable ideas meet and wrestle in the arena pf the world, and 
through the storm and flash, the possibility of the victoriously fulfilled 
ideal, the hope of the Messiah, the expectation of the Avatar, takes 
possession of the hearts and thoughts pf men. 

Such an age seems now to be coming upon the world. 


— Aurobindjo, 



THE UNIVERSAL QUEST 

By Prof. S. Hanmanthrao. 

The object of this paper is not tw carry on any philosophical 
discussion. It only makes an humble endeavour to find out the 
common features of the religions of the world. It aims to 
emphasise the idea of the Common Fatherhood of God and the 
Brotherhood of Maxi, to show that an examination of the condi- 
tions of the past will lead us to the conclusion that, through all 
the numerous vicissitudes of human history, man has been aiming 
at Truth, lo attain tiic infinite Treasure which when reached, all 
else appears fleeting and transitory. 

The Egyptian worship is described as Nature Worship. The 
sun was worshipped as a God. The Nile was worshipped as a 
God. The Vedic Aryans who came to India and expressed some 
of the earliest thoughts of mankind also worshipped the forces of 
Nature that surrounded them. The Ganges became a goddess. 
The sun was a God. There was, however, already an indication 
that this worship of Nature, might degenerate into the worship 
of a number of Gods. The Vedic seers felt the necessity of 
emphasising the unity that underlay this diversity. They pointed 
out that the forces of Nature were only manfestations of the one 
source of All-Energy. 

That which exists is one ; sages call it variously as Agni, Yama, 
Mdtirisvd. 

The daily midday prayer prescribed for every dwija or 
twice-born runs thus : 

He is the sun dwelling in the bright Heaven, He is the air dwelling in 
the sky. He is the fire dwelling in the sacrificial hearth. He is the guest 
approaching the house, He dwells in men, in Gods, in the sacrifice and in 
heaven. Substances emanating from water, from earth, from sacrifice , 
from mountains, — all these are the true (God). 

In course of time, however, these fundamental truths came 
to be forgotten . Greater emphasis came to be laid on form and 



368 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


ritual. Magic practices, elaborate spells, incantations and 
animal sacrifies, became the order of the day. To some extent, 
the change was due to the contact with the non- Aryan races in 
India. In this wilderness of ritual and formalism, the funda- 
mental principles of the unity of God-head were being lost sight 
of. Such a condition of things did not satisfy the quest of Man. 
He began to feel that reality did not consist in the formal worship 
of the day. He felt that he was groping in darkness. He felt 
no joy in what he saw. Everywhere there was doubt and a spirit 
of questioning. Hence arose the cry of the Upanishad seers : 

Lead, me from the unreal to the real. Lead me from darkness to light, 
Lead me from death to Immortality. 

There was a craving to know the real nature of God. Is he 
something objective, outside yourself? Is he to be found only 
in the sacrificial hearth ? Is religion a thing that can be put on 
whenever you like and dispensed with whenever it is not wanted ? 
No. The Upanishad seers came to realise that the whole world 
is enveloped by Him : 

He sees you though you cannot see Him. Your senses function only 
on account of His energy. He is tlie Ear of the ear, Mind of the mind, 
Speech of speech, Life of life, Eye of the eye. 

Here is the greatest step taken in the development of human 
thought. The God we seek is not a despot whose throne it is 
very difficult to approach, but is a God who is as much within 
you as without you. There is a divine spark within us and it is 
our duty to eliminate the brute within and suffuse ourselves with 
the divine spirit. The Upanishads embody the highest ethical 
code when they ask us not to lead a life of passivity, but a life 
full of action. 

By performing works do you live a hundred years. 

Action by itself is not bad. It is only attachment to worldly 
pleasures and pains that causes misery. Hence perform works, 
but without attachment. Unselfish devotion to the world 
becomes the highest duty of man. The highest social good is 



January, 1925] 


THE UNIVERSAL QUEST 


369 


more important than individual welfare. When the individual 
realises that his welfare is others’ welfare and others’ welfare 
is his own, he approaches the goal. He comes nearest to God. 

The Upanishads, thus, po nt out unity in diversity. But it 
is the irony of History that even at times when Humanity seems 
to be very near the “Promised Land’’, i l . tends to go far from it. 
So, a few centuries after the age of the Jpanishads, we again 
witness doubt and questioning 

Just as the great thinkers ot the modern world are convinced 
that no world-i construction is possible at the present moment, 
unless it is based on solid moral foundations, so also was the same 
conviction felt by the thinkers of that time, and the one leader 
— who for all ages, has won the reverence of all Hindu India — 
was bri Krishna. He combined in his personality the character- 
istics of a great warrior and statesman, poet and philosopher, 
politician and saint. He was the singer of that Divine Song, — 
the song of harmony and peace, the song of universal prayer and 
faith. Here is no prescribed ritual, here is no special read to 
salvation, but however man approach Him even so does He wel- 
come them, for the path men take from every side is His. It is 
only ignorance that fails to see the unity in this diversity. 

Once again, in language much simpler than that of the 
Upanishads, an attempt is made to solve the Universal Quest. 
Once more, it is declared that human welfare does not depend 
upon any bribe offered to the priest, but on right conduct. No 
intellectual somersault can enable you to realise the All-soul. 
Humility, urpretentiouness, harmlessness, forgiveness, recti- 
tude, purity, self-control, unattachment, absence of egoism, — 
these are the ways of the seeker. 

Do we find any difference between these teachings of the 
leader of Hinduism and the Eight-fold path of the Great Buddha, 
— Right views, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, 
right mode of livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right 
rapture ? Is it right to call Buddha a denouncer of Activity when 
we find him saying : It is true that I preach extinction but 



370 THE V1SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

only the extinction of pride, lust, evil thoughts and. ignorance, 
not that of forgiveness, love, charily and truth ? Is it not the 
same ideal of right conduct that is embodied in the doctrine of 
the Jains, that the five duties of a Jain are ahimsa, charity, 
honesty, chastity and renunciation of worldly interest? Is not 
the same idea expressed by England’s poet : 

He prayeth well who loveth well 
Both man and bird and beast 
He prayeth best who loveth best 
All things both great and small. 

While human thought was undergoing this development in 
India, it was equally active in those regions where the great 
civilisations of Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Chaldea and Persia 
held their sway. There also religion began with nature worship 
and degenerated into formalism, and ritual. About 2,000 B. C. 
there appeared a great king in Egypt, Ikhnaten by name, who 
endeavoured to establish the faith in one God and made it the 
religion of his Empire. It will be an interesting study to find 
out what was the exact connection that existed between Ancient 
India and the contemporary oriental civilisations. 

Several centuries later there appeared the great prophet of 
Persia who in the words of Tagore “was the greatest of all the 
pioneer prophets, who showed the path of freedom to men, the 
freedom of moral choice, the freedom from blind obedience to 
unmeaning injunctions, freedom from the multiplicity of shrines 
which draw our worship away from the single-minded chastity 
of devotion.’’ He was one of those who appealed to the God- 
sense in man : 

When I conceived of Thee, O Mazda, as the very first and the last, as 
the most adorable one, as the father of good thought as the creator of 
Truth and Right, as the Lord Judge of our actions in life, then I made a 
place for Thee in my very eyes. 

Is not this a repetition of the thought of the Upanishad : 

This deity who is manifesting himself in the activities of the universe 
always dwells in the heart of man as the supreme soul. Those who realise 
His through the immediate perception of the heart attain Immortality. 



January, J925] 'THE UNIVERSAL QUEST 371 

Three thousand years of human history are completed 
before we hear anything of western civilisation. All memories 
of that period are lost except in India ana China. Throughout 
this period we observe the same tendency in the development of 
Religion. It begins with nature worship ar.d tribal gods, but 
ends in the realisation of the All-in-one. 

We now pass on to the pioneers of wcst-European civilisa- 
tion — the Greeks and the Rom ms. Wc are still dazzled by the 
so-called classical learning. The study of their city-state still 
forms the beginning of all political education. As the Hindus 
invoke Ganesa before they commence any good action, we 
mode; ns invoke Aristotle, before we commence the study of 
Politics or Economics, Poetry or Ethics. We are told that while 
man hitherto merely aimed at life, the city-state enabled him to 
lead a good life. We are told, that it is like the dawn of 
responsibility in a youth, who suddenly discovers that life is 
neither easy nor aimless, and that mankind is growing up. 

May we not, with greater truth, affirm that this discovery 
that life is neither easy nor aimless was made at least 2,000 years 
before Aristotle, when the Upanishad sages declared that the 
highest aim of man’s life is to know his self ? 

No one can deny the fact that Greece elevated spiritual life 
by giving the greatest scope to freedom of thought. It soon 
passed over the stage of tribal gods and came to understand the 
meaning of a moral life. In Asia, Socrates and Epictetus would 
have become Gods. We find the same belief in single Infinite 
power, the same doctrine of detachment from the things of the 
Earth, the same advice to live a life full of action, in the teachings 
of Socrates and Epictetus, as we find in the Upanishads and the 
Gita. When Epictetus asks you to take all things contentedly, 
is he not approaching tht Mahdtma of the Upanishads ; the great 
man, who is prasdnta peaceful, y uktatmanah at one with God and 
nirdvandva free from opposites? If you always remember that 
God stands by, an inspector of whatever you do, either in soul 
or in body, you will never err either in your prayers or actions 
and you will have God abiding with you. It was Sri Krishna 
who expressed this same idea in the Song Celestial : 



3/2 THE VISVA-BHARATl QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

Surrender all actions to me, with thy thoughts resting on the supreme 
self, from hope and egoism freed and 0} mental fever cured, engage in 
battle. 

The city-state embodied the highest intellectual development 
of the time, but it reached only a small portion of all humanity. 
Alexander attempted to hellenise the then known world. There 
was for a time the prospect of the East and West coming together. 
But the prospect soon vanished. However, the idea of Alexander 
remained as a powerful tradition. Rome with its wonderful 
development from a tiny little city into the greatest Empire of 
the times reminds one of the wonderful growth of the little tiny 
Anglo-Saxon state into the British Empire of the present day. 
The moral and social structure was all the time shaking under- 
neath. The Roman institutions were best suited to a Republic. 
They were not adjusted to suit the needs of an Empire. With 
the rise of Marius and Sulla, the best days of the Republic were 
over, and military power came to predominate over the civil. 
The great philosopher-emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is only an ex- 
ception in that long line of emperors that represented the decline 
and fall of the Roman Empire. 

It was a period of inequality, a period of general misery and 
vice. There was a general feeling of disgust, — even a spirit of 
doubt in the existence of God, — If there is really a God, why is 
he so silent ! The cry was heard and one of the greatest figures 
of History appeared in the person of Jesus. He came with a 
gospel, not for the few, but for all. He came to announce that 
the Lord is not the Lord of the rich or the mighty, but the Lord 
of the meek and the lowly. Can there be a nobler personification 
of the Upanishad ideal : Enjoy by giving away, covet not , — than 
that figure of Jesus at the crucifixion? 

In a few centuries, it became the official religion of the 
Roman Empire and no one will deny the softening and purifying 
tendencies of the early Christian doctrine in western Europe. 
But, at the same time, like Hinduism of long ago, Christianity 
also was subjected to a process of deterioration. Dogma and 



January, 1925] 


THE UNIVERSAL QUEST 


373 


ritual became more important than Truth, and the coming of a 
new prophet became necessary. 

Muhammad created the new awakening : that God is not 
merely the God of to-day or tomorrow, carved out of wood or 
stone, but the mighty, loving, merciful Creator of the world. 
When the popular beliefs of Christianity overshadowed the truth 
that was proclaimed by Jesus, Muhammad cnee more emphasised 
the underlying unity of all th° diversity that is manifested in 
the "Universe. He says in the Koran : 

It is He who r.auseth the tick thing .V act car unto you to strike fear 
and to raise hope and jormeth the pregnant clouds. The thunder 
celebnucth His praise and the angels also. He launcheth his thunder- 
bolts and si-riketh therewith whom He pleaseth while they dispute con- 
cerning Him. ... It is He who of right ought to b> invoked and those 
whom they invoke besides Him shall not respond to them at all. . . Sight 
perceives Him not, but He perceives mens sights: for He is the All- 
penetrating : the Aware. 

This is the same idea as was expressed by the Upanishad 
sages when they said : 

From fear of Him fire burns , from fear of Him tHe sun shines , from 
fear of Him ihe wind blows and from fear of Him death is rampant . 

He who cannot be seen by the eyes but who causes the eye to perceive 
all visible objects, know Him alone as God, Him who stands so near. 

Do we not find in the teachings of the Koran, the same 
monotheistic spirit that is exhibited in the Upanishads, the same 
importance attached to sraddha or faith and prayer, the same 
insistence upon right conduct and right action that you find in 
the Gitii ? 

The conquests of Islam during the centuries following 
Mahammad form one of the most amazing spectacles in history. 
They are no doubt the result of physical power, but also of the 
strong religious force behind it. The religion of Islam produced 
a greater moral effect than that of the then decadent Christianity . 
The Christian priesthood lost its moral force when its priests 
became leaders of armies. Is Christianity justified in the charge 



374 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


of militarism brought against Islam, when the Popes fought 
against Emperors and created human hate instead of Christian 
love? 

The medieval popes parted from the early injunctions of the 
Saint of Galilee : My kingdom is not of this world , — and began 
to interfere in temporal matters as intermediaries between God 
and Emperor. The jealousies and quarrels between the rival 
popes, the flagrant immorality that existed in the church, the 
total neglect of their duties to their flock reminds us of the 
condition of the Hindu popes at the present day. A reaction 
came, there was a spirit of freedom and true inquiry, a craving 
for righteousness, and we have the Renaissance and the Reforma- 
tion. But instead of inaugurating an era of peace and Christian 
brotherhood, there was more bitterness and war. 

Medieval Emperors were so dazzied with the traditions of 
Alexander, Caesar and Augustus, that they did not try to evolve 
the principle of group-consciousness and group-mind that was 
underlying the feudal scheme of medieval polity. The chance of 
harmony, peace and brotherhood, that was lost once when 
Alexander died a premature death, was lost for a second time 
when the medieval system of polity and religion failed, giving 
place to national states and national religions. The moral 
foundations of the state were gone and the principle “where 
the safety of one’s country is at stake there must be no considera- 
tion of what is just or unjust, merciful or cruel, glorious or 
shameful : on the contrary everything must be disregarded save 
that course which will save her life and maintain her independ- 
ence” became the Bible of the nation-states. How far away is 
this conception from that of Aristotle, that the end of the state 
is the development of the moral and intellectual life of the 
community, and the view of the early Fathers that the end of 
the state is primarily to smooth men’s way to salvation. 

I do not under-rate the Humanitarian movements of the 
eighteenth century ; the teachings of Voltaire, Rousseau and the 
other French thinkers who succeeded in raising the value of the 
Individual in the state ; or the efforts of poets, novelists and 
philosophers thoughout western Europe in rousing the dormant 



January, 1925] 


THE UNIVERSAL QUEST 


375 


soul in man. But during the last century and half, there has 
been a counter current, — the false ideal of Nationalism. 

Just as religion, which ought L o unite people, also divided 
peoples, the movement 01 Nationalism which started as a move- 
ment of unity led to divisions among groups. What harm to 
Universal Brotherliocd this doc true of rampant nationalism was 
capable of doing, no nation seriously considered, until the 
disastrous catastrophe known as the World War broke out. 
Religion was declared out of amrt in politics. The Biblical 
commandment : Love thy neighbour was left aside as only good 
enough amongst individuals within a country. It ceased to have 
application between two different countries. The machiavellian 
doctrine came into force, that whatever is done for the greatness 
of your own nation is in itself the highest morality. 

That has been the trend of History in Western Europe 
during the last thirteen centuries. What was the course of 
events in the East? 

Islam, ultimately driven from Europe made its permanent 
home in the East. It exercised a great influence on India. It 
seems correct to say that, at least from the 14th century onwards, 
Hindu thought came to be consciously affected by the teaching 
of Islam. The belief in one All-merciful, All-loving God who 
can be realised not by any intellectual process but by faith and 
prayer, is evident in all the religious ferment that was taking 
place in the various parts of India during this period. The 
doctrine of Divine Love, hhakti, or devotion is the chief feature 
of the Hinduism of the period. As in Sufism, here is no ritual, 
no formalism, no medium between the worshipped and the 
worshipper. It is the universal path of communion between the 
finite soul and the Infinite Soul. It consists in complete self- 
forgetfulness. There is no longer the feeling of I and Mine. 
The individual feels he is not the doer, hut God is the doer. 

There was no period in Indian History after Asoka more 
favourable for this outburst of the religion of the heart — the 
religion of Love — than that of Akbar. It was the period when 
Christian missionaries for the first time dared to preach their 
doctrines in this country. It was also the period when in various 
parts of the country, vernacular religious literature began to 



376 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

develop. It was the period when a knowledge of Hindu philo- 
sophy became possible to the Muhammadans through Persian 
translations of the Upanishads and the Epics. It was also the 
period when the mysticism of the Sufi saints must have influenced 
the devotional side of Hinduism. 

Akbar, by taking an active part in this evolution of a new 
religion based on the underlying principles of all the religions of 
the time, Hinduism, Jainism, Zoroastianism, Christianity and 
Islam was attempting a revolution which had no precedent in the 
history of the world. He was attempting to revive the true 
Upanishad spirit implied in the words : 

That word which all Vedas record , which all penances proclaim , which 
men desire when they live as religious students, that word I tell thee 
briefly. It is Om. It means all this. 

What Akbar tried to establish by his example and precept, 
Kabir the poet-philosopher infused into the popular mind : 

0 servant ! where dost thou seek me ? 

Lo I am beside Thee ! 

1 am neither in temple, nor in mosque, 

I am neither in Kaaba, nor in Kailash ; 

If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see me, 

Thou shalt meet me in a moment of time. 

Kabir says: “O sadhu ! God is the breath of all breath/* 

Here was the man who realised that he is at once the child 
of Allah and Ram. Is not the same idea stated in the Koran : 
Wheresoever ye turn , there is the face of Allah , and also by 
the poet saint I bn ul Arabi : 

My heart has become capable of every form 

It is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks 

And a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s kaaba 

And the table of the Tcra and the book of the Koran. 
I follow the religion of Love, whichever way his camels take 
My religion and my faith is the true religion. 

And by Jalaluddin Roumi : 

If there be any lover in the world, O Moslems *tis I 
This earth and heaven with all that they hold 
Angels, peris, genii and mankind, *tis I 



January, 1925) 


The universal quest 


377 


There would have been probably no Hindu-Moslem trouble 
in India had Dara Sliikoh succeeded to the throne of Delhi, 
instead of Aurangzeb. Hindu India has yet to learn what a great 
mystic Dara Shikoh was. He realised the truth that Elaha 
Allalla and Ekanievadwitiyau? are one and the same. He 
realised the Koranic truth : 

He ii within your very *oul: hut yr sic Him not. 

He was one of those who succeeded in obtaining solitude in 
the midst of crowds, retirement it: Cic ’hick of bustle and wordly 
noise. He realised that world' inc.ss does not consist in dress, 
money, sons and wife but in the non-remunbering of God. It 
was nothing but an irony of history that Dara did not succeed to 
the Delhi throne. 

The period of Aurangzeb and his successors, followed by the 
rise and growth of British dominion in India, is a matter of recent 
history. A policy of religious neutrality has been followed, more 
or less, by the British in India. It is too early to arrive at a true 
estimate of its effeits. But it can be said without doubt that 
they made the modern reforming movements possible. Without 
their moral support, leaders of reform like Raja Ram Mohun Roy 
and Veerasalingam would have found no scope. But how far 
have we proceeded towards Universal Brotherhood? Has the 
Brahmin given up his intellectual pride and realised that the God 
in Heaven is the God of the meek and lowly and not of the 
calculating ana the cunning? Has the follower of Islam realised 
that Ram and Rahim are different names of the same source of 
All-Intelligence and All-Love? 

At the begining of the 20th century, the whole world was 
shocked at the destruction of all that was best in European art 
and European Literature, and all the greatest minds of western 
Europe were compelled to make the sorry confession that 
Christianity has failed to produce that principle of universal love, 
which is the same between individuals as well as nations. The 
eighteenth and nineteenth century political thought justifies the 
authority of the state only when it represents the totality of the 
wills of the individuals and the groups within it. Is it not the 



378 THE VlSVA-BHARAl'I QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

highest achievement of human endeavour to enlarge the 
boundaries of such a state to the boundaries of the world ? 

Why have all previous attempts failed ? Alexander, Caesar, 
Constantine, Napoleon, Kaiser William, — none have succeeded 
because they began at the top and not at the bottom. They came 
as conquerers trying to establish unit}? by force and not by good 
will. Is it not the existence of this spirit of Force among the Big 
Allies that has postponed Peace? 

The atmosphere is not yet clear. There is still a feeling 
that a common organisation only means subjection to different 
authority. Is it not possible to get rid of this feeling in the 
International sphere, as it was got rid of in the national sphere ? 
It will never be possible so long as by unity we mean the 
establishment of a superior “culture” at the point of the sword. 
It will not be possible while the Christian missionary believes 
and preaches that universal welfare depends upon conversion to 
his own religion. It will also not be possible if the two great 
communities of this country, — Hindu and Moslem, — believe in 
the existence of a fundamental barrier between themselves. 

What then is the proper solution? The evolution of a 
common Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man, not by 
fight, not by conquest, but my the absorption of all that is good 
everywhere in every race and in every state. 

The ideal of forcing all states into a single Empire or 
partitioning them among two or three Big Empires has not 
succeeded in History. But is the new experiment of a League 
of Nations, based on the principle of self-determination, going to 
be a success, or is it going to be a huge delusion leading to a 
greater war, where more science, more wealth and more ingenuity 
is going to to be used for destruction ? The answer depends upon 
the new meaning that is to be given to Human Endeavour ; 
whether it should consist in love, suffering and sacrifice, or 
might, victory and conquest. 

The East is helping the West in the solution of this problem 
in the same way in which Jesus did two thousand years ago. No 
two figures have excited the admiration of the world, since Christ 
and Buddha, as Gandhi and Tagore. The West believed in 



January, 1925] 


THE UNIVERSAL QUEST 


379 


progress based on material strength and prosperity. The East 
is now teaching the West to believe in the strength of sacrifice, 
suffering and love. 

East and ''Vest are now linked together in a manner in which 
they were never linked before. May we not expect in these 
portents a true “Federation of the World” based not on brute 
strength, bur on moral force? Can we not expect that a greater 
step will be taken than at any pre\ icus stage in Human History 
for the realisation of the truth expressed in the words of the poet : 

Father of all iu every at.".- 
la ever}* clime adored 
By saint, by savage and by sage 
Jehovah, Jove or Lord, 

* * 

To thee whose temple is all space 
Whose altar, earth sea and skies 
One chorus let all beings raise 
All nature’s incense rise. 



CIVILISATION AND ETHICS 

A Review * 

By S. E. Stokes, Kotgarh. 

I have been carefully through Schweitzer, and with the 
deepest interest. The first volume seems to me of particular 
value. Doubtless, this is because it expresses what I have been 
feeling for a number of years with the greatest possible intensity. 
Humanity has got out of touch with life as a whole ; it has not seen 
and understood life in its entirety. Therefore, it has been 
attempting to subsist upon scraps and fragments. The tendency 
to specialisation has made those, who have devoted themselves to 
knowledge, content with details. I have been more and more 
impressed with the fact, that we can only make the most of life and 
the most of ourselves, if we have a definite conception of its 
significance. 

Of course the limitations of human nature, make it impossible 
that we should apprehend the complete significance of the Self and 
Self -experience ; but what comes within the content of experience 
and is expressed to the Self in the terms of human nature, should 
be capable of right apprehension, though its ultimate implications 
are at many points necessarily hidden. We should be able to 
grasp enough to be able to read life as a page in the book of eternity 
— not as a jumble of disjointed and apparently disconnected 
fragments of sentences. It seems to me, that it is just because 
we have lost that view of the oneness of life, — of the vital and 
essential unity of it, — and of its significance, when apprehended 
as the timeless experienced in time and the inseparable experienced 
in individuality, that we wander so aimlessly and bring no fruit 
to perfection. 

It has been this thought, which has practically impelled me 
to go into the silence and cut myself off from the excitement of 
those issues, which, when I devote attention to them, force to 

’'Philosophy of Civilisation by Albrecht Schweitzer . 



January, 1925] 


CIVILISATION AND ETHICS 


381 


action . T cannot tell you with what imperativeness the feeling has 
taken possession of me, that ah effort will attain to its true value 
only when humanity again regrasps its conviction, that life is a 
unity and, as a unity, has a meaning and a paramdrtha. How can 
we — how can our race — advance, or indeed even hold its ground, if 
it is governed by vague sentiment and has lost faith in the time- 
less significance of the Self and the world of ffs experience ? Surely 
Christ would have felt compassion for the men of this generation. 

Such thoughts as these made me greatly appreciate the first 
volume of Schweitzer’s Philosophy oj Civilisation. In it he 
has expressed thoughts which are very real to me .His convic- 
tion, that without regaining a ‘World-view’ the civilisation of a 
race is bound to go to pieces, is a thought T have pondered over for 
years. All the time 1 was in jail was devoted to an attempt to find 
such a view ; and the book I wrote there was entitled : Thoughts 
on the Meaning of Life. It is now so complete, that, though the 
f >rm is not yet satisfactory to me, and I am working on that, still 
everything necessary is there, and if I should die to-morrow, it 
could be taken and put into shape by another. 

However, to return to Schweitzer. I like his first volume 
immensely. The first part of the second volume also, in which he 
points out what he conceives to be the vital weaknesses of the 
various systems of western philosophic thought, is very sugges- 
tive. The latter part of the second volume, however, in which he 
developes his own method of approach to the problem of the 
meaning of things, did not seem to me to be of a nature that could 
carry us very far. 

Of course, the feeling of reverence for and awe in the presence 
of life is an inspiring thought. I too have felt it and have felt 
impelled to the service even of the insects that he mentions. That 
I have felt it in another way and for different reasons than he, is 
quite natural ; for I differ vitally from him in my conception of 
life’s meaning. Still, I have that feeling of love and fellowship 
with all that is living, and am therefore perhaps not unfitted to 
appreciate the value of the attitude of mind that he advocates, as 
essential if civilisation is to survive. 



3B2 


THE VISVA-BJIARATI QUARTERLY L Magh, 1331 


There are various points where he does not satisfy me. We 
approach the problem differently. His view is a looking-outward ; 
it seems to me that the meaning of the world — all experiencing — 
is to be found by looking inward. He seems to think of life as 
some thing which can be destroyed ; it is a view that I cannot 
comprehend. His conceptions have to do with living men and 
living animals ; to me it seems that we are dealing with the Self 
experiencing in terms of human and non-human nature. “We 
can only see” he says, “that all life eventually ceases to be” ; my 
own experience is that as we enter deeper into the meaning of 
things, we apprehend that the prevailing conception of death is 
a misapprehension, based upon a misconception of the nature of 
life. Death is one of the illusions, and with it the fear of death. 

Schweitzer’s belief that life can be destroyed seems to me to 
lead him into an extraordinary position. In the ethic of 
‘reverence for life,’ that he puts forward, “all destruction of and 
injury to life, from whatever circumstances they may result, are 
reckoned by it as an evil.” He holds that, on one side is the 
ethical, and on the other the necessary ; for he acknowledges that 
in the world it is impossible not to take life. We can none of us 
“cut ourselves off from the horrible necessity (of taking life) 
which plays ceaselessly round us”. Yet necessary or not, it is 
evil. This really means that living in this world is of necessity 
opposed to the ethical, no matter how much we succeed in reducing 
the amount of life that we destroy ; as a consequence, it is and 
must continue to be a compromise with evil. (pp. 263-5). 

Holding this view, it is no wonder that he is convinced of 
“the impossiblity of the attempt to understand the meaning of 
life in the meaning of the world”. The interests of the world are 
opposed to those of life ; it is a form of dualism. 

Turning to the position upon which he feels that he must 
build, we find it summed up in : “I am life which wills to live; 
and I exist in the midst of life which wills to live” ; the ethical 
corollary of which is :“I experience the necessity of practising 
the same reverence toward all wills-to-live as toward my own . ’ ’ 

This ethic is, of course, the golden rule with its implications 
extended to include non-human animals and plants. The 



January, 1925] 


CIVILISATION AND ETHICS 


383 


postulate seems to me to be neither self-evident, nor fundamental. 
I experience the wili-to-live without doubt. This is a fact of 
experience. But is it the deepest note of my experiencing life? 
Is it the dynamic factor impelling to the most profound experi- 
ence ? Am I not conscious, as the world of the experiencing self 
broadens and deepens, that mere will-to-live, in the sense in 
which Schweitzer appears to use the term, — a livingness that can 
be destroyed by physical causes, — holds by no means a primary 
place? So far as such life is concerned, there have been many 
who had a will-to-die. That is why I can not feel it to be really 
fundamental. In the lowest organism, it probably amounts to 
little more than an instinct to avoid pain. In the experience of 
the only Self we know at first Land — onr own — it is neither 
the most dynamic factor nor the most vital experience which it 
knows. There are others which would make the Self toss aside 
‘life’ — this thing that can be destroyed— without a moment’s 
consideration. 

I accept his second article : ‘I exist in the midst of life that 
wills to live’, because I am certain that I have found a basis for 
believing it. Yet as he seems to view life, it is surely a mere 
assumption which is unjustifiable, unless based upon more 
ultimate considerations. He states as a fact, what is not at all 
self-evident. At least, I presume he holds it as such, for he would 
hardly make it the foundation upon which to build up his world- 
view otherwise. 

I gather my impression that he does not base his assertion 
upon more fundamental considerations, because of his constantly 
repeated assertions, that the interests of ‘life’ and of ‘nature’ are 
antagonistic. Life in the world is a horrible puzzle, in which 
man must live as ethically as grim necessity permits. To destroy 
life is ethically wrong under all circumstances : “All destruction 
of and injury to life, from whatever circumstances they result, 
are reckoned by it as evil”. No wonder that a world in which 
the maintenance of life (or rather of the physiological state of 
livingness) is absolutely dependent upon its constant destruction 
in detail, shocks him. 



384 THE VlSVA-EIIARATl QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

Schweitzer seems to me to do what Sankara has so often 
warned ns against, — to identify the self with its accidents ; and 
this is what I feel has landed him into his present philosophic 
position. To me it is a hopeless one, and I pity Europe and 
America, if they are so starved that it can afford them an 
inspiration. 

I too have felt reverence for life, and sympathy for the 
sufferings of animal and insect experience, hut it was not for the 
sake of the animal or the insect nature, but of the Self experienc- 
ing through them. My feeling has made me too, for years, do the 
kind of things Schweitzer suggests, but never for a moment 
because I imagined that 1 could take or save life. 

* * * 

THE MEANING OF DEATH. 

With the close of all those earthly relations, which we call 
by the name of Death, the merely human clothing of the experience 
of the Self, comes to an end also. The temporarilv-real 
expressions of a deeper reality, the temporary instruments of that 
real longing, stretching out to find its wholeness in what is 
personal, pass out of the world of the experiencing Self ; but the 
reality of the relationship remains stripped of its hitherto familiar 
nnm and nip, waiting to be clothed in higher forms fitted to deeper 
and broader experiences. The true need, and the true desire 
begotten of it, are real. They belong to the personal Self. The 
human expression was temporarily-real, — not more. 

As the Cliandyoga Upanisliat so beautifully says : “These 
are the true desires, with a covering of untruth. For, whoever 
departs from here, him one cannot see again in this world. Those 
of his, who are living and who are dead, and whatsoever else 
there is which, though desiring, one does not obtain, — all this one 
finds, when he goes There. There are all those true desires, 
covered by untruth”. 

It is surely a precious lesson, that Death teaches, showing 
us how and where we tend to confuse those true desires with the 
clothing that is only real in a very temporary sense. 



NOYES 

SoMK PAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT’S TRAVEL DIARY. 


(translated .) 


S. S II arm 10 Mam, 

2. ;ih September, 1924. 

It is eight in the morning. Thick clouds in the sky over- 
head ; the horizon hazy with rain ; the damp wind, like a peevish 
child, never getting done with its fitful gusts. On the other side 
of the breakwater, the savage sea roars and leaps up, as if at 
some throat which it fails to reach. The sight of this rain- 
blurred frothing mass of speechlessness makes me think of some 
nightmare-ridden depth whose impotent emotions, stirred up by 
its bad dreams, rise crowding round its heart, its suffocated 
utterance finding vent in an agonised wail. 

ThesejsTgns of nasty weather, at the very start, make one”s 
whole being* wilt. Our intellect is modern and staunch ; it 
refuses to acknowledge omens. But our blood is full of old 
time fears and anxieties which, like the waves beyond the 
enclosure, will not be quieted, and keep knocking against and 
leaping over our reasoned conclusions. The intellect has 
ensconsed itself behind barriers of reason, out of touch with the 
inarticulate voices of the Universe. The blood has remained 
outside ; on it falls the shadow of the clouds and the surge of far 
away billows ; the piping of the wind makes it dance and its 
moods respond to the play of light and shade, — so that when the 
elements are unkind it cannot help being disconsolat e?! 

I have often made journeys to distant lands, my mind never 
experiencing any difficulty in casting off from its mooring. This 
time, however, its anchor seems to have gripped fast. This 
shows that I am growing old. The refusal to move on is nothing 
but a form of mental miserliness ; one becomes reluctant to spend, 
only when one’s hoard is felt to be diminishing. Yet I know 
that this feeling of being held back will go off as soon as we have 



386 


THE V 1 SVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Magh , 1331 


left the harbour well behind. Then the young adventurer 111 me 
will revel in the open road and feel all the old keeness to take a 
peep behind the veil of the fair Unknown beyond the seas. 

On the last occasion, when my invitation came from China, 
they expected from me words of wisdom, — clearly an invitation 
of grown ups. But from South America they have invited me 
to take part in their Centenary Festival. This allows me to 
travel light, for I have not to put on grown-up airs. The more 
I have to lecture, the more does my own vapouring hide the real 
me, for that is not my poet’s function. The butterfly leaves the 
chrysalis by virtue of its own quality of life; the silk thread 
leaves the cocoon by dint of diverse mechanical processes, and 
thereupon the fate of the hapless butterfly is tragic. 

I first went over to the United States when T was past 
middle age and great was the efficiency with which they managed 
to extract all my words from me. Ever since then I have been 
in requisition in the markets of useful words, and my recognition 
as poet has taken a back place. Up to my fiftieth year I spent 
in unofficial haunts of uselessness. And now, when according 
to Manu I should have retreated into the forest, T have got 
entangled in the web of utility. Verily is Saturn ascendant in 
the sky of my fate. 

25 / h September. 

All yesterday our Steamer went on loading her cargo. 
When at length she cast off in the night, the wind had abated 
somewhat, but the clouds were still swaggering about in massed 
formation. This morning a dismal dampness continues to blot 
out the skv. For me there is to be no sunny send off this time. 
And both in mind and body I am tired. 

Our ship sails off with a bit of the world cut out of the shore 
life. On land there is room enough to keep spaces between man 
and man. Here we are crowded into compactness. And yet 
how difficult it is to get to know one another. This feeling over- 
casts my mind every time I sail, — this distancing of the intimate, 
this uncompanionable propinquity ! 

The habitations of early man had thin walls, with their 
wattle framework full of interstices, their doors of mat easy to 



January, 1925] 


NOTES 


387 


push open. As the designing of dwellings gained in expertness, 
masonry, wood and iron were requisitioned to make them 
impervious. Outside influences weir barred out : inside habits 
and customs were fastened in. This privacy, which is needed 
for sitting and eating and dressing and sleeping in comfort, 
appears to be an essential appendage of civilisation itself, which 
is costing no end of trouble and expense to attain and maintain, 
— this barrier at every step to the free intercourse between the 
inside and the outside. 

I admit that individual man needs a natural protective 
armour, such as Kama of the Mahubnarata was endowed with by 
the Sun. Otherwise, if be is pressed into becoming merely one 
of a crowd, his precious gift of individuality tends to become 
futile. Man cannot properly express himself unless he secludes 
himself, just as the seed, before it can sprout, seeks shelter 
beneath the soil, the fruit puts on its covering of skin to screen 
its ripening. The barbarian neither has nor needs the full 
strength of individuality : with the progress of man’s civilisa- 
tion, are evolved all the barriers of personal privacy. 

The mischief is that those barriers gradually assume an 
undue self-importance of their own. Then, by reason of the 
increasing impediments which come to block the way, the prime 
necessity of intercourse between man and man gets out of sight 
altogether. This exaggeration of the impediments is the 
calamity. 

In what circumstances does this calamity overtake 
humanity? When, with an inordinately high standard of com- 
fort, man’s necessities are excessively multiplied, then he needs 
must become specially circumspect and calculating where any 
expenditure of time or trouble is involved for the sake of others. 
When he requires the production of endless material for his own 
living, the towns and cities which house the steeds of his desires 
grow to gigantic proportions. But it is only when the congrega- 
tions of men are of reasonable dimensions that intimacy of rela- 
tion is possible between individuals. And so village dwellers are 
not only closely related, but they form a unit. Vast cities have 
not been able to develop a heart centre strong enough to circulate 
the current of their life through all their numerous and complex 



388 


THE V 1 SVA-JBHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


ramifications. Overgrown organisations are therefore only 
efficient in their output of work, not of human relations. The 
factory can do with thousands of workers, but the homeliness of 
home is lost if it is overcrowded. And so cities, while holding 
together their citizens with outward bonds, loosen all the while 
their inward ties. 

We who have been brought up from childhood amidst the 
endless compartments of this civilisation, with their closed doors, 
and have lost the habit of intimacy, are now thrown close 
together within the confines of this ship. For those who tread 
the open road, on a common pilgrimage, it takes no time to come 
together, for they are villagers who are used to mingling with 
their fellows. But the passengers of steamships and railway 
trains, when they leave their city home, take the astral bodies 
of their walls along with them. Thus we find, when our college 
students, fired with a sudden urge of patriotism, rush off to do 
good to the villagers, they can but go up to them, but fail to 
get near. They talk through their accustomed bars, and their 
voice sounds as Greek to these simple folk. 

But there is another side. Vigorously as the whirlpool of 
this civilisation draws us in, it has not taken off all our rusticity. 
We have learnt to talk of the value of time, but if someone else 
chooses to ignore that value, we have not the wherewithal to hold 
him at bay. One day I had retired to my room upstairs, feeling 
far from well and with work to do. Being of a naturally mild 
disposition, even this private room of mine is not inaccessible to 
my friends as well as to those who are otherwise. Fortunately 
the way to it is not known to all good citizens of this city. So 
word was sent up that a visitor was waiting to see me downstairs. 
I knew that being busy or unwell is no excuse in our country, so 
with a sigh I stopped my writing and stepped down. 

I found an unknown youth, lying in wait for me, who lost 
no time in producing from within the folds of his shawl a thick 
looking MS. book. I understood I had to do with a fellow crafts- 
man. “I have composed an opera,” the young poet informed 
me. He must have noticed the pallor spreading over my 
countenance for he hastened to add : “I ask nothing much of 
you, — just to set tunes to the words of my songs, which are only 



January, 1925] 


NOTES 


389 


twenty-five.” ‘‘Where’s the time”? was all I could falter in 
reply. He assured me that it would not take much time as he 
reckoned half-an-hour for each song. “But I am not well,” I 
then gasped in desperation, whereupon he still persisted, saying : 
“Oh, if you say that I — but — ” It is thrilling to think of the 
denouement on which the curtain would have been rung down 
if the stage of this drama had been an English author’s sanctum ! 

So, as I vvas saying, tiie closed door is a cruel fact of 
civilisation, but the absence of all privacy is sheer barbarism. 
Creation consists in the reconciliation of opposites : in their utter 
separation is chaos. Man forgets tills and so gets punished over 
and over again. 

27 Ih September. 

The clouds have altogether passed off to-day. A benign 
dispensation of light overspreads the sky ; there is cordial invita- 
tion in everyone of the sun-lit ripples of the sea. I would fain 
not miss the least bit of this hospitality of the heavens, and am 
loath to spare any part of such a day for writing my diary. 

Diary writing is miser’;' work, — the result of a desire not 
to waste anything, but to gather and hoard everyone of the day’s 
happenings, big or small. The miser, as I said, does not move 
on, but remains brooding. 

My creator has given me one great gift, — an inordinate 
faculty of forgetting. He has not put me in charge of his 
storeroom of facts; nor am I on duty as watchman, — it being my 
privilege, through the watches, to keep on dropping from my 
mind the burden of each passing period. 

But, had such dropping out meant losing, my Master would 
never have made such a mistake. The Spring forgets everytime 
its circumstance of blossoming and hies distraught and empty- 
handed towards the bleakness of its end ; but it is through this 
forgetfulness that the flowers find open the gateway to their new 
birth. My every-day life becomes difficult with the number of 
things which my uppermost mind forgets. But these things my 
surface-memory thus lets drop, only for them to be gathered in 
the green-room of the depth below, where they can find the 
means for ever-new changes of dress. 



390 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 

God has evidently fashioned my mind as a stage for drama, 
not a museum of events. And so the attempt to hoard is always 
a loss for me, — I gain by what I let go. When, through this 
process of passing out, something that was apparently lost is 
regained in another guise, it becomes difficult for me to stand 
cross-examination by any scientist of tenacious memory, for his 
keen analysis may make it appear that what I call new is but the 
old, that which I now call mine was some one else’s. But this is 
just the playfulness of Creation itself, — that is why it is called 
Maya. If a stern sentry should insist on going through the 
pockets of the dewdrop, only two curious gases would be found, 
with tempers as fiery as their names are harsh. And yet the 
dewdrop remains wholesomely cool as ever, sweet as any teardrop 
shed by two mingling souls. 

But the more one talks the more there is left to say. What 
I started to make out was that Diary writing is not in my line. 
I am a follower of Shiva, the absent-minded, and am not out to 
fill my beggar’s bowl with gathered facts. If I absently allow 
any portion of the lake of my mind to evaporate, that ascends 
through invisible ways to gather as cloud in my sky, — else all 
my showering is at an end. 

Besides, I am reluctant to measure all the truths of my in- 
dividual life by one and the same authoritative standard. And 
yet it takes time to evolve special standards suited to special 
happenings, so that when an event does happen its true measure 
may not be available. Then what may seem big according to 
the recognised standard may really be small, and what we are 
led to think light may in truth be the weighty thing. It is only 
by a prolonged process of forgetting accidentals that we may 
attain the means of correctly appraising particular merit. 

The excessively credible facts gathered from contempora- 
neous documents, on which writers of biographies base their 
work, are but rigid pieces of news which can neither be enlarged 
nor reduced. But Life itself progresses by a series of expansions 
and contractions of its daily events. A pile of those facts of 
extreme credibility may serve for building a memorial monu- 
ment, but how can they make up the story of a life? If from 
Life’s story the forgetfulness with which all life is instinct be 



January, 1925] NOTES 391 

left out, of what good to us can be the deadness of the result? 
Had I been foolish enough to write a diary for each and every 
day, then would such false witness, borne under my own hand, 
have contradicted and mutilated the truth of my own life. 

In the age when there were no reporters, newspapers not 
having been invented, man’s natural faculty of forgetfulness met 
with no artificial check. That is how those times produced men 
of never-to-be-foa gotten greatness. Now-a-days, we may gain 
any number of everyday great men at the hands of our keen- 
sighted, fact-pecking critics, but no more so easily such men of 
all time. 

I have the fear that some day some future biographer, 
armed with a camera, may attempt to photograph that garden of 
our childhood’s days, where Mother Nature every morning would 
smile up at me as she put right in my gladdened heart, decked 
cut on her tray of blue, each day’s sunrise as her special present. 
That matter-of-fact biographer would not even know that this 
garden of mine is only to be found there, where is the Garden 
of Bden m Paradise. The Artist who is sceptical about extra- 
credibly recorded facts may perchance find his way into that 
heaven, but never any camera-man; for is not its entrance 
guarded by the angel with a flaming sword ? 

28th September. 

As we reached Colombo, every quarter of the sky was 
flooded with rain. When the home is desolate with the tears 
of some great sorrow, some profound loss, the guest ceases to 
have freedom of entry. The hospitality of Colombo’s heavy- 
laden sky was thuswise constricted for me, lacking the warmth 
of welcome in which my mind could spread itself out. I kept 
wondering what evil star should have made so cold this first 
touch of the outside world whose invitation had brought me out. 
What if the door was open, where was the smile of greeting on 
the face of my host? 

It was in the midst of this desponding day with its averted 
face that a letter from a Bengali maiden was handed to me. 
This was the same little maid who had asked me for a poem des- 
cribing my sojourn at Shillong, — a request I had not been able 



392 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Magh , 1331 


to bring myself to dishonour. Now she simply wished me bon 
voyage. This gave me heart, for I felt that the good wishes of 
this maid of Bengal would surely counteract the evil omen of the 
unpropitious elements. 

Man has his bravery, woman her charm, — this is acknow- 
ledged in every country. To this we in India add, that Woman 
represents the Good. All those portions of our social ceremonies 
which betoken auspiciousness are in her charge. When setting 
out on any adventure we value the blessing of the mother more 
than that of the father, for we feel that, like perfume from the 
censor, the woman’s prayer rises daily to heaven, — in the 
vermillion spot worn by the wife at the parting of her hair as a 
charm to fend her husband from all harm ; in the sandal paste 
with which the sister decks her brother’s forehead once a year to 
mark her ever-green remembrance of the joys and sorrows of her 
childhood’s home; in her ulu - cry of rejoicing, her conch-blast 
of festivity ; in the meaning of each one of her everyday 
ornaments ; in her thousand and one expressed and suppressed 
anxieties. The love of woman not only makes us glad, but we 
fee] therein our truest welfare. 

This means that somehow we of India have come to the 
understanding that the thing called Gove is not merely an affair 
of the heart, but a force as universal as that of gravitation. It 
is this Universal Force which the love of woman sets free. The 
power of love, inherent in Vishnu, wherewith He nurtures the 
Universe, is his beloved Uakslimi herself. The ideal of ours, 
which is embodied in Uakslimi, we find realised in our typical 
woman. The beauty which we behold in Uakslimi is that of 
perfect harmony : so long as in Creation the opposites are not 
reconciled, Beauty does not come into being. 

This reconciliation man, in the pursuit of his path of work, 
has not yet arrived at, — perhaps will never attain. He is so busy 
making inroads into the unknown, that he cannot find the leisure 
to cry halt at any stage of fulfilment. The Creator has not put 
the last stroke of His brush in the making of man’s character, 
so that man needs must be content with incompleteness. 

But the being of woman is established in her own nature and 
she does not perilously have to venture forth to seek its fulfilment. 



January, 1923] 


NOTES 


393 


Some objective of animate nature has found in her its perfection. 
About her special functions Nature has no hesitations. Various 
is the wealth of creation, of nourishment, of jviy, with which her 
body and mind are endowed. 

In the creation of the body the function of man is but slight, 
so that he is gifted from birth with freedom from one great res- 
ponsibility. And thus has he been enabled to take on himself 
the function of creation in the world of tiie mind. In the fields 
of literature and art, science and philosophy, morals and religion, 
this life-long truant fiorn the workshop of physical life has thus 
been busy creating what we call civilisation. Whenever any 
obstacle arises in the way of the fertilising flow of the richly 
varied life-stream of woman’s creation into the endeaxour of man, 
mechanic;'.! degeneration overtakes his creations, and the result- 
ing machines become instruments of torment for others as well 
a r for himself. 

This is the idea which has sought expression in my Red 
Oleanders. All the energy of the men of Yaksha Town is 
constantly engaged in the extraction of golden treasure from the 
depth of the earth, and the cruel greed of such constant 
endeavour has banished Beauty from their midst. There, in 
Yaksha Town, man cut himself ofF from the All, entangled in 
the complex network of his own contriving ; forgetting that joy 
is of grealer worth than gold ; that fulfilment is not attainable 
through might, but only through love. Thereupon, by dint of 
his stupendous efforts for the enslavement of his fellow-men, 
Man kept himself enchained. 

Meanwhile enters Nandini, the Woman. The impact of Life 
comes upon the Machine. The all-daring importunity of love 
attacks the network of bondage set up by struggling greed. How, 
at the insidious onslaught of this force of woman’s love, man came 
to break the door of this prison of his own building, in a supreme 
attempt to liberate the stream of Life, is described in that play. 



394 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Magh , 1331 


THE GOD OF LOVE. 

What is the ideal of the lover who has passed beyond the habit of 
bartering and bargaining and who knows no fear? Even to the great 
God such a man will say : “I have given you my all, and I do not want 
anything from you; indeed, there is nothing I can call my own” This 
grand ideal of the Religion of Love demands the worship of love absolutely 
as such, without the aid of any symbols or suggestions. 

All the other forms of Bhakti are only stages on the way to reach 
this. Object after object is taken up, and his inner ideal successively pro- 
jected on them by the bliakta, to find that all external objects are always 
inadequate as exponents of his ever-expanding inner ideal, and are there- 
upon cast aside by him, one after another. 

And in course of time, the devotee acquires the power of realising the 
highest and the most generalised ideal, which to him, however, becomes 
quite alive and real. When he has reached this point, he is no longer 
impelled to ask whether God is omnipotent or omniscient, or not. To him. 
He is only the God of Love. 

It is said by some that selfishness is the only motive power in regard 
to all human activities. In my opinion that also is love, lowered by being 
particularised. When I think of myself as a part of the universal Whole 
and love It, my love becomes universal also. But when I, by mistake, 
think that I am a little something, disconnected from the Whole, my love 
becomes particularised and narrowed. 

This universal Whole is the God of the bhaktas, and all the other gods, 
books, doctrines, theories, have no purpose, no meaning for them; for, 
through their supreme love, they have risen above these things altogether. 
When the heart is cleansed and filled to the brim with the divine nectar 
of love, all other ideas of God except that He is Love become puerile and 
are rejected as inadequate or unworthy. 


— Vivekananda. 



VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN 

I 

Fiom the Address by Dr. Sten Konow at the Varshika Parishat 
24 th December 1924. 

(The address 7 uas in Sanskrit, follow'd hv ihtse ft «e words in English). 

My friends, we bow down co-d^y m revet t, ice to him U whom we owe 
the idea of the Visva-bharati. It is a poet’s vision. To this home* of peace 
fSantiniketau) men can conn from every qrurlci of the globe in a common 
endeavour to promote mutual understanding and good will. 

It is a poet’s vision but it came at a time when men weie in sore need. 
The Gospel of Jesus had proved powerless when people rose against 
people, and each of them in tin: name of the King 01 Peace, called upon 
men to take up arms. The Church invoked His name to support in turn 
the cause of each contending country. From the pulpit men were exhorted 
to nil! one another. 

The outlook in the West seemed hopeless when the Poet came and 
asked us to seek salvation through faith in new ideals. Wise men of the 
world smiled, but there were individuals who felt that there was yet hope 
for humanity. The Poet’s vision must some day come true. The nations 
of th/ world must join hands in a common endeavour to build anew the 
history of the world. 

I am waiting for such new development. It will not do to bring every 
country and every continent* under European rule and European civiliza- 
tion, Asia, asleep for ages, must make her own contribution to the world 
culture. All the peoples of the world must come together working towards 
common ideals for the universal welfare. 

There are differences and there are conflicts of interest and it would 
be idle to ignore them. But it is the endeavour of Visva-bharati to study 
them with a view to effect a recondition. Life is harmony, rich in variety. 
Death alone is uniform. The object of Visva-bharati is to achieve unity 
in diversity. 

I take it to be a good omen that the Visva-bharati has been started in 
India. India has never attempted to conquer the world by force or 
violence. Millions in India have kept their faith in lofty ideals. Let us 
move forward inspired by the Spirit of India to fulfil the Poet’s vision. 



THE V1SVA-BH ARAT I QUARTERLY 


f Magh, 1331 


39b 


II. 

A Brief Review of Early Chinese Literature. 

By Ngo-Chang Lim, Visiting Professor to Visva-hharati from China. 

India has been known to us generally as Hsin Tu, the Kingdom of the 
Hindus, or Si Yu, the Western Land ; and among the Chinese Buddhists 
as Fu Kuo, the land of the Buddhas, or as Si -then, the West Heaven ; 
which epithets will serve to give you an idea of the mental attitude of the 
Chinese towards this country, which is in marked contrast to the dislike 
or contempt which they felt for the other countries round China ; the tribes 
to the North being called Hsing-Nu, or Hun slaves, those to the North- 
West and South-West simply Barbarians. To the East the Japanese were 
called Dwarf Pirates on account of their occasional attacks on our coast 
line. 

Our first contact with India, as everyone knows, was through religion, 
resulting in religious intercourse and not commercial or political relation- 
ship. This epoch-making event took place when Kashv apam adanya 
visited China in the year 67 of the Christian Era, bearing with him images 
and scriptures. Both he and his companion were received with favour by 
the Chinese Emperor, Ming Ti, who built for them the White Horse 
temple. The teaching of Buddhism has continued to flow from then to 
the present time, and has permeated our religious as well as our daily life. 
Even our women and uncultured people are in the habit of using Buddhist 
phrases, without however being aware of their origin. 

Besides these lofty religious ideals from which millions of weary souls 
in China, from rulers down to peasants, found inspiration and consolation, 
we gradually came tp acquire a knowledge of Philology, Astronomy, 
Medicine and other branches of learning through the Indian priests and 
Chinese pilgrims. Sanskrit was taken as a model for a Chinese phonetic 
system which was called Ba-la-men Shu, or Brahmanical writing. 
Especially notable was the devotion of the Chinese pilgrims, Fah-hien, 
Hsiun-chang and a number of others, who did not shrink from undertaking 
the weary and dangerous journey to India. The overland route to India 
from China is strewn with the white bones of many such pilgrims, who 
died on their way through the intense heat of the desert, or the extreme 
cold of the snowy passes. 

Fah-hien has told us that it took him six years to reach Central India 



January , 1925] 


VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN 


397 


from North China by land, and three years to return by sea. And he tells 
as how in 41J A.D. he was nearly shin wrecked in the Bay of Bengal, wheu 
his boat encountered a stprin and was foetid to be leaking. He threw 
everything overboard to lighten the ship, but clung to the books and images 
he was taking back with him, his pnyer for safety showing evidently more 
anxiety for these than for his own life ! 

If, through this first auspicious contact in the past, we have been 
sharing common beliefs and a common culture with you, it is all the more 
incumbent on those of us who now follow in the footsteps of those Indian 
and Chinese pilgrim pioneers, torchbemvrs of the light of truth, love and 
peace, to see that this cultural bond is progressively strengthened. 

The ability of Asia to solve her own problems, to achieve her own 
salvation as well as to share her light with the rest of the world, would 
not only be a blessing to the vaiious Asiatic peoples, but to the world at 
large. Both India and Chuia had once reached the zenith of their develop- 
ment, but since then both of them have come to a period of stagnation, of 
what scientists call arrested growth. Nations that have once begun to 
decline must sooner or later be wiped out of existence to make place for 
more vigorous peoples, unless a period of re-birth and diligent .self-realisa- 
tion follows. 

India, China and Japan have awakened but, with perhaps the excep- 
tion of Japan, the consequences of their re-awakening have not yet become 
fully apparent. It is my hope that India and China will take a different 
course from that of Japan in their future endeavours and struggles, and 
present to tlie world a better picture of peace. Let the innate gifts of 
peace and love for all humanity, which are a feature of these peoples steeped 
in long ages of culture, overflow from the hearts of the two great Asiatic 
countries. It would indeed be terrible if these two nations, between them 
comprising about one-third of the world's population and one-fourth of that 
of Asia, were to develop along aggressive lines. Blind patriotism is as 
undesirable as servile submission. 

It is with these thoughts in my mind that I felt the desire to visit 
this country, in which I arrived with the humble spirit of a pilgrim. On 
the day after my landing, when I first saw the Bodhi trees, I was over- 
come with emotion. “What ! M I cried, “Can these really be the Bodhi 
trees mentioned in our Chin Kang-ching, the Diamond Classic ?” When 
I was coming over the Canges, thronged with the devotees bathing in its 
holy waters, the same emotion overwhelmed me. The Ganges is known 



398 


THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [Magh, 1331 


to us as Hang Ho, or the Constant River, and rouses in us the same 
religious feeling as it does in the Buddhists of India. “Numberless as the 
vsands of the Ganges’* is a common phrase in the mouth pf every Chinese. 

To come back to my point, 1 come to this place because I hope to 
learn more about your country and take back what 1 learn to my own 
people. I hope also to convey to you, during my sojourn here, some of 
the more characteristic thoughts of our ancient and modern thinkers and 
also to give some account of the present social political and economical 
developments in China. I may further be of assistance to those of you 
who desire to be acquainted with our language in order to gain direct 
access to our literature. 

Those who know the colossal output of Chinese literature during the 
long period which it has covered, will agree with me that it is impossible 
to deal with the whole of it, even in the barest outline, without running 
into volumes. What is more, there never has been compiled any history 
of Chinese Literature in the Western sense, nor lias any systematic attempt 
been made to place these voluminous materials in chronological order. All 
our classification has been according to subject matter. T therefore propose 
to take this opportunity of placing before you only a few of its features. 

Just to give you an idea of dimensions and arrangements let me 
mention two or three encyclopedias compiled during the Ming and the 
Ch’ing dynasties, which have become sources of systematic reference for 
our scholars. The bigge c t literary achievement of China is the Yung Le 
Ta-tien compiled during tlic reign of the Ming Emperor, ClEing Clin, and 
completed in 1407 A. D. This huge encvclopoedia consists of 22,877 
sections which are bound up in 11,000 volumes, its Table of Contents alone 
occupying 60 books. Owing to the prohibitive expenditure that would be 
entailed, it has never been printed. It had three transcripts, two of which 
perished at Nanking with the fall of the Ming dynasty, and part of the 
third was destroyed in Peking, nt the entry of the Allied troops in 1900, 
when the Hamlin Library was set on fire. Some of these books have found 
their way to Europe and America. 

The Yung L£ Ta-tien has four main divisions : (1) the Confucian 
Canons (2) History (3) Philosophy and (4) General literature, including 
both Buddhism and Tavoism. Some three thousand scholars were assembled 
at the Capital by special command, where they spent five years over its 
compilation. All kinds of books were collected and sent over from every 
comer of the Empire by royal agents and the governors of provinces, in 



January, 1925] 


VISVA-BHARATI BULLETIN 


399 


addition to voluntary loans from private libraries, for comparison and 
compilation. 

This was soon followed, under the succeeding Emperor, Ying Tsung, 
by the compilation of a “Complete geographical Record of the Empire / * 
This set consists of ninety volumes and is regarded as one of the celebrated 
works in Chinese Literature. 

The Sze-kTi Ch’uen-shu, edited in the lime of Kang-hsi, next deserves 
mention. This Ercyclopoedia of Learning is arranged much in the same 
way as the Yung Le Ta-tien, but is by no means a revised or condensed 
edition of its predecessor. This also lias four divisions, viz. (1) The Ching 
or Classic (2) The Shih or Historical (3) The Tzft, comprising various 
schools of thought and (4) The Tsi, or Literary. The whole set runs to 
5,026 sections, bound up in 1,628 octavo volumes of about 200 pages each. 

When I was in Peking I had the curiosity to make a count of the 
different volumes dealing with different subjects. I found, to give some 
instances, that in the Classic division there arc 114 volumes of texts, com- 
mentaries and notes on the books of Ch’un ClPiu, or Annals of Spring 
and Autumn, a historical work composed by Confucius. O11 classical 
music theie are 21 volumes. On Etymology and Philology there are 478 
sections in 36 volumes. On Phonetics there are 388 sections in 33 volumes. 

In the General Literature division there are numerous books on 
Religion. Among them is the Kai-Yuan, Buddhist records ; comprising 20 
volumes, by a noted Buddhist scholar, Ts6-sheng, of Tang dynasty. He 
gives a detailed account of Buddhism since its introduction into China, and 
of the Buddhist scriptures. There are 3 volumes of “New Books on the 
Englightened Virtues/' edited by Cli’ao Hui, in the Sung dynasty, largely 
based on the teachings of Buddha and Confucius, and exhoiting men to 
be virtuous. It is interesting to note that this author, while characterising 
both Confucianism and Buddhism as sublime, distinguished the former as 
“refined" and the latter as “comprehensive." 

Another set of books in this encyclopaedia of K'ang-hsi is the Fu chu 
t'ung Tsai, or General Records of the Buddhist Patriarchs, in 22 volumes, 
by Nien Hsiang of the Yuan dynasty. This gives a chronological record 
of the rise and fall of the various sects of Buddhism. It is in these and 
similar books that .one gets the earlier references to India. 

The Emperor K'ang-hsi, under whose orders this encyclopaedia, the 
Sze K'u Chuen Shu, was compiled and completed in the 47th year of his 
reign, was himself a lexicographer and a well-read Chinese scholar. The 



400 THE VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY [ Magh , 1331 

Chinese Standard Dictionary has been named after’ him the K’ang-hsi 
Dictionary. 

These are some of the materials in which students pf Sinology will 
find an inexhaustible fund of enlightenment and inspiration. It may be 
of interest to note here that much is to be found in the volumes on Chinese 
history and literature that will throw light on the history, institu- 
tions and customs of neighbouring countries as well. For instance, a 
European professor in Burma has recently been writing a history of Burma, 
for the earlier materials of which he has, curiously enough, had to fall 
back upon Chinese sources. 

Now that I have given some idea of the sources, let me touch upon 
some of the more conspicuous figures of their times for the purposes of 
my rough sketch. 

Like other countries we also had our Mythological Age. P’an Ku, 
the Chinese Atlas, was believed to be the first living being on earth, 
through whom was accomplished the arduous task of chiselling out the 
earth from chaos. This will probably strike you, as it struck me, as 
being analogous to the allegory of Vishnu, the preserver, raising the world 
from the flood. It took our P’an Ku 18,000 years to complete his gigantic 
architectural work. After a long period following this, we come across 
another figure, also an architect, but not cast in so heroic a mould. This 
was You Ch’ao who taught men how to build houses, for before then they 
bad been living in caves. Then came Sui J6n, the producer of fire, who 
like Prometheus taught his fellow men how to make a fire, his method 
being to rub together two pieces of wood. These myths, though they 
cannot be taken seriously from a historical standpoint, serve to give us a 
glimpse of how the Chinese mind came to apprehend the origin of things. 

This was followed by a Legendary Age, in which there were admittedly 
five patriarchs, who did much for Chinese civil isation. The first of these 
was Fu Hsi (2852 B. C.). To him has been ascribed the invention of the 
Pa-kwa, or mysterious eight diagrams, a symbolic series on which was 
based a mystic philosophy. Though considerable credence may be 
attached even to the symbolic records of the earlier part of this period, 
w r e only touch firm ground when we come to the period when writing was 
invented. This came about in the reign of Huang Ti, the Yellow Emperor. 
It was one of his courtiers, Ch’ang Chieh, who observing the shapes and 
lines of natural objects and of animals, first conceived the idea of forming 
written characters. 



January, 1925] WSVA-BHARATl BULLETIN &OX 

Passing over these earlier patriarchs we come to the times of the 
Emperors Yao, Shun and Yii, the whree rulers whose names were immor- 
talised by Confucius and Mencius. In the writings of Confucius we find 
mention of these in Shu-king, the Book of History, which records the 
main incidents in the reigns of some eighteen rulers of China, beginning * 
with the three named above. O11 Yii, the third, fell the heavy respon- 
sibility of coping with a terrible innundation that devastated a great part 
of the then existing Kingdom. Though Chinese scholars used to regard 
the history of this period with great reserve, closer study has established 
the fact of this innundation being due to the overflow of the Hwang Ho 
River along which the early Chinese dwelt, by reference to the occurrence ' 
of an eclipse of the sun mentioned in Shi-king, the Book of Odes, for the 
heavenly movements were very carefully recorded by the historians and 
regarded with awe by rulers and people alike. 

From this period of legends and semi-legends we come to the period 
of Lao-tzfi and Confucius, Moti and Chuang-tzft, during which time 
Chinese Literature really began to take definite shape. We may say that 
this period commenced somewhere about 600 B. C. for Lao-tzft was born 
in the beginning of Chou Nig Wang’s time, or about 570 B.C. ; and 
Confucius some 20 years after. For this there is ample documentary and 
textual evidence. These two names are well known throughout the civilised 
world, and portions of their work are familiar to scholars of every cultured 
nation. So here I need make only a few observations. 

In Lao-tzfTs works we often come across startling and revolutionary 
ideas ; then again we also find a strong belief in quietude, and in the 
inability of institutions, social or political, to bring true peace. The cause 
of disorder in the societies of man is the development by him of the un- 
natural and the artificial. The only effective remedy is a return to Nature, 
or the Tao as it was called by Lao-tzft, who w 7 as a contemporary ’ of 
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in the West. 

Confucius, on the other hand, aimed at the teaching of right conduct 
to men, from rulers down to peasants. He formulated a social code for 
all to observe. Benevolence, Righteousness and Universal Love, — these 
are his watchwords. The object of Confucius, as we gather from his 
writings, was to improve existing conditions, rather than to set up any- 
thing new. He never allowed himself to be drawn into talk about % 
future world, or about the soul, or departed spirits. He was too much 
occupied with the thought of the welfare of living men. 



402 


RHK VJSVA-BHARATJ QUARTERLY [Magh^i^ 

"1 T» 

We cannot overlook, even in this brief sketch, one fact that influence^ 
thoughts of these early thinkers. The revolutionary ideas of Lao-tzfl, 
and the peaceful tenets of Confucious, were alike the reflections of their 
time and of the period immediately preceding. Our history tells us4hat 
during the two or three hundred years immediate^ before their appear- 
ance, China had been distracted with constant petty warfare. She was 
also frequently menaced by the periodical attacks of the northern Tartars, 
fiom which the people suffered severely. 

It is therefore only natural that Lao-tzfi should get tired of the 
intrigues and political scheming of the rulers of his time, and preach a 
course of inactivity which he believed would be more conducive to real 
happiness. On occasion he is found to wax indignant at the injustice 
wrought on the people by their rulers, whereupon he would rebuke them 
with the fierce denunciation of a revolutionary. For example he says: 
“The people are starved because of your heavy taxation ; the people are 
hard to govern because you are overdoing your government ; the people 
defy death because they are eager to live. Since they are not ^frauj *ta 
die, why threaten them with death?” He also says: “The mo,re 
you make, the more robbers and thieves you will find.** 

Here is what Confucius says about the formation of Character in young 
men : “A youth should be filial at home and respectful abroad. He 
should be earnest and truthful ; he should overflow in love to all, but 
cultivate friendship for the good ; then devote his spare energy to the 
improvement of his mind.” About learning he says : “Teaming without 
thought is labour lost. Thought without learning is intellectual death.*** 
About contentment he says : “Riches and honours are what men desire ; 
jet, except, in accordance with Right, these should not be enjoyed. 
Poverty and degradation are what men dread ; yet, except in accordance 
with Right, these should not be avoided.” And on his disciples inquiring 
about the spirits of the departed, Confucius answers. “You arc not even 
able to serve living men, how then should you serve departed spirits?” 
further, on being asked about death, lie repeats: “You do not even 
understand life, how then should you understand death?” 

With Lao-tzfi and Confucius wc close this period of Early Chinese 
Literature. 



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Special Sharadiya (Autumn) Number 


VISVA-BHARATI 

QUARTERLY 



EDITOR 

SURENDRANATH TAGORE 

VISVA-BHARATI 

LIBRARY. 

SANTINIKETAN. 

ASWIN, 1331 B S. 
SEPTEMBER, 1924 A. D. 


Priced at Rs 3 in aid of Hospital Fund. 



VISVA-BH ARATI press 



The copyright o f the Bengali works (over 150 in number) of 
Rabimhanath Tagore has been tiansferred to the Visva-Bliarati by the 
author. The Bengali woiks aie being now printed and published by the 
Visvn-hlmrati Press. 

The authorities ol the Visva-bharati are contemplating publication of 
a s*iico of anthologies and monographs on the Idkratuic, Art, Music, 
History and Philosophy of India. 

SOME RECENT WORKS OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE. 

Vasanta. A new Song-play with music by Rabindranath Tagore. 
Specially composed foi the Spring Festival (held in Calcutta during the 
last week of Februaiy) in wlreh the Toet appeared in a leading role. Re. r/- 

Prayaschitfa — -A Drama by Rabindranath Tagore. As. -/8/-. [Summer, 

IQ23 1 

Lipika-A Book of Shoit Studies in Prose Rc i-jr 2. [Summer, 1922 | 
Slush u Bholinath A Book of Child Poems. Re. 1/-, [Sununci, 1922) 
Mukta-dhara — A Drama of flu map Fieedom* Rc. i/-. [Autumn, 1922 1 
Gita-Panchasika — A Took of Fifty vSongs with Music. Rs 2. [New 

Impression j 

Catalogues issued puiod t tally, end sent giatis on application . 

TWO NEW BOOKS 
RV 

RABINDRANATH TAGORE. 

Lectures in China- A eompkU collection ot lectures delivered in China 
dining his uemt Fai KasUin Tour (1024). 

Lectures in Japan — A similar collection of lectures* delivered in Japan 

Tlu. Fmdi\h and Buigah Woiks of Rabindranath Tagore are supplied 
most caiciulH and pioinptly in and out of town by — 

THE VISVA-BH ARATI BOOK-SHOP 
Book-sellers, Fublishets Sr Printers. 

10 , Cornwallis Street, Calcutta. 



ILLUSTRATIONS BY 

GAGANENDRANATH TAGORE 


JZ? 3C. 







RED OLEANDERS. 


A DRAMA IN ONE ACT, 

The Curtain rises on a window covered ky a network 
of intricate pattern in front of the Palace. 



[. Nandini and Kishor, a digger boy, come in.] 

Kishor : 

Have you enough flowers, Nandini? Here, I have 
brought some more. 

Nandini : . 1 . 

Run away, Kislior, do, — back to youi woi ", quic 

You’ll be late again. 


Kishdr : . 

I must steal some time from my digging and digging 
of suggests to bring out flowers to you. 

Nandini: ' - 

But they’ll punish you, my boy, if they know. 


Kishor: „ T « A 

You said you must have red oleanders. I am g 

they’re hard to find in this place. Only one 
tree I discovered after days of search, near v 
hidden away behind a rubbish heap. 



2 


RED OLEANDERS 


Nandini : 

Show it me. I’ll go and gather the flowers myself. 

Kishdr : 

Don’t be cruel, Nandini. This tree is my one 
secret which none shall know. I’ve always 
envied Bishu, he can sing to you songs that 
' are his own. From now I shall have flowers 
which you’ll have to take only from my hands. 

Nandini : 

But it breaks my heart to know that those brutes 
punish you. 

Kishdr : 

It makes these flowers all the more preciously mine. 
They come from my pain. 

Nandini : 

It pains me to accept anything which brings you 

' hurt. 

Kishdr : 

I dream of dying one day for your sake, Nandini. 

Nandini : 

Is there nothing I can give you in return ? 

Kishdr : 

Promise that you will accept flowers only from me 
every morning. 

Nandini : 

I will. But do be careful. 

Kishdr : 

No, no, I shall be rash and defy their blows. My 
homage shall be my daily triumph. 

[Goes ] . 


Professor : 

Nandini ! 


[Professor comes in.] 



RED OLEANDERS 


3 


Nandini : 

Yes, Professor ! 

Professor : 

Why do you come and startle one, now and again, 
and then pass by ? Since you awaken a cry 
in our hearts, what harm if you stop a moment 
in answer to it? Let us talk a little. 

Nandini : 

What need have you of me ? 

Professor : 

If you talk of need, look over there ! — You’ll see 
our tunnel-diggers creeping out of the holes 
like worms, with loads of things of need. In 
this Yaksha Town all our treasure is of gold, 
the secret treasure of the dust. But the gold 
which is you, beautiful one, is not of the dust, 
but of the light which never owns any bond. 

Nandini : 

Over and over again you say this to me. What 
makes you wonder at me so, Professor? 

Professor : 

The sunlight gleaming through the forest thickets 
surprises nobody, but the light that breaks 
through a cracked wall is quite a different 
thing. In Yaksha Town, you are this light 
that startles. Tell me, what d’you think of 
this place? 

Nandini : 

It puzzles me to see a whole city thrusting its head 
underground, groping with both hands in the 
dark. You dig tunnels in the underworld and 
come out with dead wealth that the earth has 
kept buried for ages past. 

Professor : 

The Jinn of that dead wealth we invoke. If we can 
enslave him the whole world lies at our feet. 



4 


RED OLEANDERS 


Nandini : 

Then again, you hide your king behind a wall of 
netting. Is it for fear of people finding out 
that he’s a man? 


Professor : 

As the ghost of our dead wealth is fearfully potent 
so is our ghastly royalty, made hazy by this 
net, with its inhuman power to frighten people. 

Nandini : 

All you say is a kind of made-up talk. 

Professor : 

Of course made-up. The naked is without a 
credential, it’s the made-up clothes that 
define us. It delights me immensely to 
to discuss philosophy with you. 

Nandini : 

That’s strange ! You who burrow day and night 
in a mass of yellow pages, like your diggers in 
the bowels of the earth, — why waste your time 
on me ? 

Professor : 

The privilege of wasting time proves one’s wealth 
of time. We poor drudges are insects in a 
hole in this solid toil, you are the evening star 
in the rich sky of leisure. When we sec you, 
our wings grow restless. Come to my room. 
For a moment allow me to be reckless in my 
waste of time. 

Nandini : 

No, not now*. I have come to see your king, in his 
room . 

Professor : 

How can you enter through the screen ? 

Nandini : 

I shall find my way through the net -work. 



RED OLEANDERS 


5 


Professor : 

Do you know, Nandini I too live behind a net-work 
of scholarship. I am an unmitigated • scholar, 
just as our king is an unmitigated king. 

Nandini : 

You are laughing at me, Professor. But tell me, 
when they brought me here, why didn’t they 
bring my Ranjan also? 

Professor : 

It’s their way to snatch tlrngs by fractions. But 
why should you want to drag your life’s 
treasure down amongst this dead wealth of 
ours ? 

Nandini : 

Because I know he can put a beating heart behind 
these dead ribs. 

Professor : 

Your own presence is puzzling enough for our 
governors here ; if Ranjan also comes they will 
be in despair. 

Nandini : 

They do not know how comic they are, — Ranjan 
will bring God’s own laughter in their midst 
and startle them into life. 

Professor : 

Divine laughter is the sunlight that melts ice, but 
not stones. Only the pressure of gross muscle 
can move our governors. 

Nandini : 

My Ranjan ’s strength is like that of your river, 
Sankhini, — it can laugh and yet it can break. 
Let me tell you a little secret news of mine. 
T shall meet Ranjan to-day. 

Professor : 

Who told you that? 



6 


RED OLEANDERS 


Nandini : 

Yes, yes, we shall meet. The news has come. 

Professor : 

Through what way could news come and yet evade 
the Governor? 

Nandini : 

Through the same way that brings news of the 
coming Spring. 

Professor : 

You mean it’s in the air, — like the rumours which 
flush in the colour of the sky, or flutter in the 
dance of the wind ? 

Nandini : 

I won’t say more now. When Ran j an comes you’ll 
see for yourself how rumours in the air come 
down on earth. 

Professor : 

Once she begins to talk of Ranjan there’s no 
stopping Nandini’s mouth ! Well, well, I 
have my books, let me take my shelter behind 
them, — I dare not go on with this. 

[■ Coming back after going a little way~\ 

Nandini, let me ask you one thing. Aren’t you 
frightened of our Yaksha Town? 

Nandini : 

Why should I feel afraid? 

Professor : 

All creatures fear an eclipse, not the full sun. 
Yaksha Town is a city under eclipse. The 
Shadow Demon, who lives in the gold caves, 
has eaten into it. It is not whole itself, neither 
does it allow any one else to remain whole. 
Listen to me, don’t stay here. When you go, 
these pits will yawn all the wider for us, I 
know, — yet I say to you, fly; go and live 



RED OLEANDERS 7 

happily with Rafijan where people in their 
drunken fury don’t tear the earth’s veil to 
pieces. 

[ Going a little way and then coming back ] 

Nandini, will you give me a flowe* - from your chain 
of red oleanders ? 

Nandini : 

Why, what will you do with it? 

Professor : 

How often have I thought that there is some omen 
in these ornaments of yours. 

Nandini : 

I don’t know of any. 

Professor : 

Perhaps your fate knows. In that red there is not 
only beauty, but also the fascination of fear. 

Nandini : 

Fear ! Even in me ? 

Professor : 

I don’t know what event you have come to write 
with that crimson tint. There was the 
gardenia and the tuberose, there was white 
jasmine,- — why did you leave them all and 
choose this flower? Do you know, we often 
choose our own fate thus, without knowing it ! 

Nandini : 

Rafijan sometimes calls me Red Oleander. I feel 
that the colour of his love is red,— that red I 
■ wear on my neck, on my breast, on my arms. 

Professor : 

Well just give me one of those flowers, a 
moment’s gift, -let me try to understand the 
meaning of its colour. 



8 


RED OEEANDERS 


Nandini : 

Here, take it. Ranjan is coming to-day, — out of 
my heart’s delight I give it to you. 

[ Professor goes ' 1 
| Gokul, a digger, comes in] . 

Gdkul : 

Turn this way, woman! Who are you? I’ve 
never yet been able to understand you. 

Nandini : 

I’m nothing more than what you see. What need 
have you to understand me ? 

Gokul : 

I don’t trust what I can’t understand. For what 
purpose has the King brought you here? 

Nandini ; 

Because 1 serve no purpose of his. 

Gdkul : 

You know some spell, I’m sure. You’re snaring 
everybody here. You’re a Witch! Those 
who are bewitched by your beauty will come 
to their death. 

Nandini : 

That death will not be yours, Gdkul, never fear ! 
You'll die digging. 

Gdkul : 

Let me see, let me see, what’s that dangling over 
your forehead? 

Nandini : 

Only a tassel of red oleanders. 

Gdkul : 

What does it mean ? 

Nandini : 

It has no meaning at all. 



RED OLEANDERS 


9 


Gokul : 

I don t believe you, oir* bit ! You’re up to some 
trickery. Some evil will befall us before the 
day is out. That’s why you have got vourself 
up like this. Oh you terrible, terrible witch ! 

Nandini : 

What makes you think me so terrible? 

tiokul : 

You’re looking like an ominous torch with a red 
flame. Det me go and warn these fools. — 
Beware ! Beware ! 

[He goes ' 



Nandini ( knocking at the net-work) : 

Do you hear me? 

A v'oice ( from behind the scenes) : 

I hear you. But don’t call me, — I have no time. 

Nandini : 

Let me come inside. My heart is full to-day. 

Voice : 

No, not into my room. 

Nandini : 

I have brought you a garland of white kunda 
flowers. 

Voice: 

Wear it yourself. 



IO 


RED OLEANDERS 


Nandini : 

My own garland is of red oleanders. 

Voice : 

I am like a mountain peak, my bareness is my 
adornment. 

Nandini : 

Like waterfalls running down the peak, this white 
flower-chain will sway on your breast. Open 
the netting, I want to come in. 

Voice : 

I can’t allow it. There’s no time. 

Nandini : 

Don’t you hear that song in the distance? 

Voice : 

What are they singing ? 

Nandini : 

The autumn song : 

Hark, ’tis Autumn calling : 

“Come, O, come away!” — 

Her basket is heaped with corn. 

Don’t you see the September sun is spreading the 
glow of the ripening corn in the air ? 

Drunken with the perfumed wine of wind, 
the sky seems to sway among the shivering corn, 
its sunlight trailing on the fields. 

You too come out, King ! — out into the fields. 

Voice : 

Fields ! What could I do there ? 

Nandini : 

The work there is much simpler than your work in 
Yaksha Town. 

Voice : 

It’s the simple which is impossible for me. A lake 
cannot run out dancing, like a frolicsome 
waterfall. Leave me now, I have no time. 



RED OLEANDERS 


II 


Nandini : 

The day you let me into your store-house the blocks 
of gold did not surprise me, — what amazed me 
was the immense strength with which you 
lifted and arranged them. But can blocks of 
gold ever answer to the. swinging rhythm of 
your arms in the same way as fields of corn? 
Are you not afraid, King, of handling the 
dead wealth of the earth ? 

Voice : 

What is there to fear? 

Nandini : 

The living heart of the earth gives itself up in love 
and life and beauty, but when you rend its 
bosom and disturb the dead, you bring up 
with your booty the curse of its dark demon, 
blind and hard, cruel and envious. Don’t 
you see everybody here is either angry, or 
suspicious, or afraid ? 

Voice : 

Curse ? 

Nandini : 

Yes, the curse of grabbing and killing. 

Voice : 

But we bring up strength. Does not my strength 
please you, Nandini ? 

Nandini : 

Indeed it does. Therefore I ask you, come out into 
the light, step on the ground, let the earth be 
glad. 

Voice : 

Do you know, Nandini, you too are half-hidden 
behind an evasion,— you mystery of beauty ! 
I want to pluck you out of it, to grasp you 
within my closed fist, to handle you, scrutinise 
you, — or else to break you to pieces. 



12 


RED OLEANDERS 


Nandini : 

Whatever do you mean ? 

Voice : 

Why can’t I strain out the tint of your oleanders 
and build a dream out of it to keep before my 
eves? Those few frail petals guard it and 
hinder me. Within you there is the same 
' hindrance, so strong because so soft. Nandini, 
will you tell me what you think of me ? 

Nandini : 

Not now, von have no time. Let me go. 

Voice : 

No, no, don ’t go. Do tell me what you think of me. 

Nandini : 

Have I not told you often enough? 1 think you 
are wonderful. Strength swelling up in your 
arms, like rolling clouds before a storm, — it 
makes my heart dance within me. 

Voice : 

And when your heart dances to see Rail j an, is that 
also 

Nandini : 

Let that be, — you have no time. 

Voice : 

There is time, — for this ; only tell me, then go. 

Nandini : 

That dance rhythm is different, you won’t under- 
stand. 

Voice : 

I will, 1 must understand. 

Nandini : 

I can’t explain it clearly. Let me go. 

Voice : 

Tell me, at least, whether you like me. 



RET) OLEANDERS 


13 


Nandini : 

Yes, I like you. 

Voice : 

The same as Ranj an ? 

Nandini : 

Again the same question ! I tell you, you don’t 
understand these things. 

Voice : 

1 do understand, a little. I know what the 
difference is between Raiijan and me. In me 
there is only strength, in Rahjan there is 
magic. 

Nandini : 

What d’vou mean by magic? 

Voice : 

Shall I explain ? Underground there are blocks of 
stone, iron, gold, — there you have the image of 
strength. On the surface grows the grass, 
the flower blossoms, — there you have the play 
of magic. I can extract gold from the fear- 
some depths of secrecy, but to wrest that magic 
from the near at hand T fail. 

Nandini : 

You have no end of things, yet why always covet ? 

Voice : 

All I possess is so much dead weight. No increase 
of gold can create a particle of a touchstone, no 
increase of power can ever come up to youth. 
I can only guard by force. If I had Ranjan’s 
youth I could leave you free and yet hold you 
fast. My time is spent in knotting the bind- 
ing rope', but, alas, everything else can be 
kept tied, except joy. 

Nandini : 

It is you who entangle yourself in your own net, 
then why keep on fretting ? 



H 


RED OLEANDERS 


Voice : 

You will never understand. I, who am a desert, 
stretch out my hand to you, a tiny blade of 
grass, and cry : I am parched, I am bare, I 
am weary. The flaming thirst of this desert 
licks up one fertile field after another, only to 
enlarge itself, — it can never annex the life of 
the frailest of grasses. 

Nandini : 

One would never think you were so tired. 

Voice : 

One day, Nandini, in a far off land, I saw a 
mountain as